China Overtakes US as World's Leading Emitter of CO2
China has overtaken the United States as the world's biggest producer of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, figures released today show.
The surprising announcement will increase anxiety about China's growing role in driving man-made global warming and will pile pressure onto world politicians to agree a new global agreement on climate change that includes the booming Chinese economy. China's emissions had not been expected to overtake those from the US, formerly the world's biggest polluter, for several years, although some reports predicted it could happen as early as next year.
But according to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, soaring demand for coal to generate electricity and a surge in cement production have helped to push China's recorded emissions for 2006 beyond those from the US already. It says China produced 6,200m tonnes of CO2 last year, compared with 5,800m tonnes from the US. Britain produced about 600m tonnes.
Jos Olivier, a senior scientist at the government agency who compiled the figures, said: "There will still be some uncertainty about the exact numbers, but this is the best and most up to date estimate available. China relies very heavily on coal and all of the recent trends show their emissions going up very quickly." China's emissions were 2% below those of the US in 2005. Per head of population, China's pollution remains relatively low - about a quarter of that in the US and half that of the UK.
Source: The al-Guardian
Ed. So then, do you think that al-Guardian and other anti-American 'fair and balanced' media will now get off the back of the USA and start persecuting China instead? Or is there more chance of Al Gore whitewashing the Great Wall? Hard call, wouldn't you say?
Peter C Glover
2 Comments
1 Reference
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to FriendReferences (1)
-
Response: Cheap phentermine free sh.Cheap phentermine diet pill.
Reader Comments (2)
Peter, have you not realised that it is still all our (and America's) fault. By outsourcing our manufacturing re
Peter, have you not realised that it is still all our (and America's) fault. By outsourcing our manufacturing requirements to China we are, in fact, transferring our carbon footprint. Therefore, we need to be even more dilgent in reducing our carbon emissions to compensate.
What a lot of twoddle! But some people believe it.