Environmental taxes in China

Here is an article on the possible introduction of various environmental taxes in China. If they actually do it, it would seem to me to be an important inflection point for China's economic development, from a dirty, low-wage model to a more environmentally sustainable and high-value model. Could it be that the rapid economic and social change in China, as well as the undemocratic nature of its government, will make possible a more responsible development trajectory than that in many other countries? (I'm thinking of the US, where we have been unable to pass far-reaching climate change legislation recently).