In a picture taken on June 16, 2009, commuters on a country road ride past a wind farm developed by state-owned China Energy Conservation Investment Corp in Zhangbei, north of Beijing in Hebei province.

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

The U.N. climate conference is being held this month in Brazil. The U.S. is conspicuously absent, but China is there. We look at how these two countries are taking opposite paths on renewable energy— China is expanding it exponentially while the U.S. is investing in fossil fuels. We look at what these decisions mean for the climate and for these countries’ economies.