China to pass US greenhouse gas levels by 2010

China's rapid industrialisation and rising wealth means that it will become a bigger emitter of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming, than the United States by 2010, an authoritative report says. The International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises industrialised countries, predicted that global carbon dioxide emissions would increase by 55 per cent between now and 2030, unless "urgent" action was taken by governments and consumers. China will account for 39 per cent of the increase in carbon dioxide, as its emissions more than double in the period to 2030. This is largely because it is reliant on getting its electrical power from "dirty" coal-fired power stations, rather than relatively clean gas-fuelled plants. It will overtake the US as the world's biggest emitter before 2010, the IEA said, a decade earlier than other forecasts have suggested.