China top carbon emitter, Beijing under pressure

By Gillian Murdoch

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's ranking as top emitter of the main planet-warming gas, carbon dioxide, seemed confirmed by a Dutch report on Friday, putting more pressure on Beijing to come up with their own figures, experts said.

The finding from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) is the third published in English by either European or U.S.-based researchers to show China at the top.

It says China's CO2 emissions raced 14 percent ahead of the total emitted by the United States last year.

One of the report's biggest effects will be to put more pressure on the central government to speed up the process of tallying its own total greenhouse gas emissions.

"No matter how many of these kind of reports are released, you still need the confirmation from China to really confirm the story," said Greenpeace China's Beijing-based climate and energy campaign manager Ailun Yang.

Even without China's confirmation, Friday's report represented the consensus view, said Isabel Hilton, editor of bilingual Mandarin-English China Dialogue website, which publishes reports about China's environment.

The delay in Beijing's confirmation reflected reluctance.

"As the Chinese saying goes, the tall tree attracts the wind. The government is conscious that being the largest emitter by volume, along with a vigorous program of building coal-fired power stations, risks putting China at a moral disadvantage in international diplomacy," said Hilton.