China now accounts for a seventh of world carbon pollution: IEA

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2004

PARIS (AFP) — China is now the world's second biggest polluter of carbon dioxide, accounting for a seventh of the total, after the United States, which emits nearly a quarter, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said.

The IEA report, timed to coincide with a UN conference on climate change in Buenos Aires, confirmed the growing role of China and other developing countries in the worsening greenhouse-gas problem.

Eighty percent of carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution in 2002 was emitted by 22 countries, the IEA said.

The biggest polluter by far was the United States, with 23.5 percent of the total, followed by China, with 13.6 percent.

Afterwards came Russia (6.2 percent), Japan (five percent), India (4.2 percent), Germany (3.5 percent), Britain and...