"The Chinas and the Indias of the world make the case that they should be granted the right to raise the living standards of their citizens beyond subsistence levels before they need to comply with ‘green’ notions, just as the developed world was allowed to do.”

I believe this excuse from the East, as also stated elsewhere in countless other media on this subject, is the fundamental vantage point that defines what nations should be “going green” (under things like the Kyoto Protocol).  I find a statement from these “developing” countries to be absurd.  The “developed” world invented, created, & engineered---and evolved over a very long period of time with---a gross majority of technology (industrialzation, electric & combustion engines, aeronautics, computers, etc.) that the “developing” world has been handed over in just the last few generations.  So, the provisions & “green tariff” in that proposed legislation sounds quite reasonable to me.
In fact, it is strikingly odd that we define “developed” and “developing” nations (to begin with) yet when the “developed” hands over knowledge & technology to the “developing”, the “developing” (with HALF the world’s population!) does not wish to adhere to the experience & consequences of the “developed” with said technology!  When you accept something, you must also accept all the benefits & consequences as well and deal with them appropriately.

“Developing” nations such as China & India better “come on board”; it’s quite an insult to the “developed” nations, otherwise.  If you accept the lifestyle of someone else, you cannot be asked to be treated differently.

Correction to very last sentence:  If you accept the lifestyle of someone else, you cannot ask to be treated differently.