It's Official - China Now World's Biggest Carbon Polluter - Global Content Up 2.2 PPM In One Year

[hatrack]

China has leapfrogged the United States as the world's biggest carbon emitter and India is heading for third place, scientists said on Friday in a report that warned global greenhouse-gas levels were scaling record peaks. The report, by a research consortium called the Global Carbon Project (GCP), confirms an estimate that China has become the biggest producer of carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal gas that causes global warming.

Until 2005, rich countries emitted most of the world's man-made CO2. Today, developing countries now account for 53 percent of the total, the GCP said. "The biggest increase in emissions has been taking place in developing countries, largely in China and India, while developed countries have been growing slowly," it said.

"The largest regional shift was that China passed the US in 2006 to become the latest CO2 emitter, and India will soon overtake Russia to become the third largest emitter."

The GCP said CO2 emissions last year were the equivalent to almost 10 billion tonnes of carbon. Fossil fuels accounted for 8.5 billion tonnes and changes to land use, mainly through deforestation, accounted for the rest. Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 surged 2.2 parts per million (ppm) in 2007 to reach 383 ppm. The rise was 1.8 ppm in 2006.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/China_biggest_carbon_polluter_world_levels_at_record_scientists_999.html