This is just another race the US is losing.
They've still got a long way to go, but the signs that they are turning the ship are clear.
http://energydesk.greenpeace.org/2016/10/21/china-coal-crack...
http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-pro...
I predict the opposite. China knows that climate change is real, and will seek to take a leadership position in fighting it as means of building long-term international prestige.
The U.S. built its reputation today by defending freedom during WWII and then by handing nations back to their citizens after it won.
Fascism, authoritarianism, communism--those were the greatest threats to human society in the 20th century, and the U.S. led the fight that beat them. But the generation who experienced all that personally will soon be dead.
What is the greatest threat to society now? In the long term, it has to be climate change. It's like fuel for every other social unrest you can think of.
50 years from now, international reputation might hinge on who did the most to limit the effects of climate change. If China sticks to it, and the U.S. fails, the U.S. could find itself pretty damn unpopular.
In addition to (eventual) climate change China has been making itself increasingly unlivable due to conventional pollution (in all forms)...but the leadership there has always seen this as a temporary cost that must be borne to catch up with the west.
Internal pressure will already force China to do something sooner rather than later; handling the problem is a good way to consolidate power internally and thus tackled enthusiastically.
Throw in the USA voluntarily ceding its position of world leadership and it's an opportunity to go from barely-tolerated semi-pariah to increasingly-respectable world leader.
In particular expect China to "save" Africa once the worst begins. But, not immediately; groundwork is already being laid, but right now they can afford to be patient.
Seems it really was too good to be true.