“Climate Week” at the UN kicks off tomorrow. Representatives from the world’s 17 biggest carbon emitters will meet in Washington on Thursday to set the groundwork for what will be a crucial week in determining a global strategy for reducing the release of greenhouse gases. Next Tuesday events will come to a head in New York as UN chief Ban Ki-Moon will preside over a meeting amongst world leaders. The hope is that a rough agreement on the distribution of the burden can be struck this week, and then ratified in Copenhagen in December.

Many are pessimistic about the prospects of success. Representatives of developed and developing nations have for years squabbled over their countries’ responsibility for the crisis. Countries like the US and Japan are responsible, in large part, for where we are today, but rapidly industrializing nations like China and India will share a considerable portion of the responsibility for the future. The question this week, as seems to have been the question leading up to every climate treaty since Kyoto in 1997, is who amongst the world’s biggest carbon emitters will soften its position and spearhead productive negotiation.

Green tech investors the world over are hoping it is their country that steps up and commits to lower emissions. A green commitment means green subsidization, and that’s often the difference between making a technology economically viable or not. Mindy Ceres, director of the Investor Network on Climate risk, tells Reuters, “Without the policies to encourage clean energy, investors are stuck at the starting gates.” Nothing gets money moving like a far-reaching government commitment with teeth.

But the US is a long way off from making that commitment. Still the only developed nation yet to ratify the Kyoto protocol, the US lags behind the pace set by the rest of the world in turning its economy carbon-free. Legislation currently flowing through congress would have the US cut its carbon emissions by just 4% by 2020. By contrast, developing nations are asking that developed nations commit to cutting emissions by more than 40% by that date. The EU has split the difference and committed to reducing emissions by 20%. Japan has separated from the pack, committing to a 25% reduction. Ultimately, real progress on greenhouse gas reduction depends on the commitments made by burgeoning coal-dependent giants like China and India. Regardless of their stance, the US needs to step up and take its place at the front of the world stage, where it stood prior to Kyoto.