China emissions surge opens bigger gap with US

Booming economy and soaring cement production drive Chinese emissions up eight per cent in 2007 according to new report

Written by James Murray

BusinessGreen, 13 Jun 2008

Pressure on China to step up its climate change efforts and agree to international targets to cut carbon emissions looks set to intensify after a report today confirmed it is fast outstripping the US as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.

According to a report from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, which last year claimed that China had surpassed the US as the world's largest polluter, the country's carbon emissions rose 8 per cent last year, accounting for two-thirds of the entire world's emissions increase of 3.1 per cent.

The agency said that China now emitted 14 per cent more carbon than the US and accounted for 24 per cent of total global emissions. The US is responsible for 21 per cent ot the world's total.

Speaking to BusinessGreen.com, report author Jos Olivier said that the combination of China's runaway economic growth and the booming global demand for cement was driving the surge in emissions.

"The growing economy, particularly in relation to exports, is driving demand for energy, but the country's rapid urbanisation and consequent demand for cement is also playing a key role," he explained.

The cement clinker production process is the largest source of CO2 apart from fossil fuel use, contributing around 5 per cent of global emissions from fuel use and industrial activities. Chinese production of cement grew 10 per cent last year and now accounts for half of the global market.

Although China still lags far behind the US, Russia and Europe in terms of CO2 emissions per capita, the report will increase pressure on the country to sign up to binding emission targets currently under discussion as part of the negotiations for a successor to the Kyoto Accord.

"The negotiators are now fully aware of the size of the emissions from the developing world and it is now critical that countries like China take some responsibility in a future climate change agreement," Olivier said.

"Obviously much of the onus for action will rightly fall on developed economies, but developing countries will still need to play a role in mitigating CO2 emissions."