By IANS
Washington : China’s current carbon emission levels have set alarm bells ringing among environmentalists as they are likely to upset global greenhouse stabilisation efforts.
According to conservative estimates by researchers, carbon emissions in China will increase by 600 million tonnes by 2010, compared to 2000, reports Sciencedaily.
The R.K. Pachauri-headed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had said the region that includes China is likely to see a 2.5-5 percent annual increase in carbon dioxide emissions by 2010.
But researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, put that figure at about 11 percent.
This growth from China alone would dramatically overshadow the 116 million tonnes of carbon emissions reductions pledged by all the developed countries in the Kyoto Protocol.
The projected annual increase in China alone over the next several years is greater than the current emissions produced by either Britain or Germany.
Based upon these findings, the authors say current global warming forecasts are “overly optimistic”, and that action is urgently needed to curb greenhouse gas production in China and other rapidly industrialising countries.
The study has been jointly authored by Maximillian Auffhammer and Richard Carson of the University of California.