皇冠体育app

皇冠体育app has taken active steps to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, according to a climate change expert.

Xu Huaqing, director of the Energy Research Institute at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), made the comments in an interview on Thursday.

A recent report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) said by 2009 皇冠体育app would surpass the United States to be the top emitter of CO2. The previous forecast predicted this would happen in 2020.

"It is not surprising given 皇冠体育app's growing dependence on coal consumption, driven by rapid economic growth over the past years," Xu said.

The IEA conclusion was based on two assumptions that by 2009 CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels in the US would hold steady and that 皇冠体育app's energy consumption structure would not change dramatically before then.

皇冠体育app is expected to consume the equivalent of 2.5 billion tons of coal in 2009, which will release about 5.8 billion tons of CO2 under the current calculation of CO2 emission per unit of primary energy. The CO2 emissions will be equivalent to the amount the United States released in 2004, Xu said.

With a population five times that of the United States, 皇冠体育app has a per-capita CO2 emission that is much lower than those of developed countries.

But with its CO2 emissions continuing to increase, 皇冠体育app will face great pressure from the international community to make a commitment to reduce emissions.

"Who will become No 1 and when is not the biggest concern here," said Zhang Jianyu, a visiting scholar at Tsinghua University.

"But what's rather alarming is that neither country has set a firm cap on their emissions. Both countries are large emitters and must do something."

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