China’s greenhouse-gas emissions are rising far faster than expected, according to a new analysis to be published in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. Researchers estimate that by 2010, China may spew 600 million more metric tons of greenhouse gases than it did in 2000; to put that in perspective, the total emissions reductions pledged by signatories to the Kyoto Protocol is 116 million metric tons. But per capita, says Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, China’s emissions are still much lower than developed countries. “It’s like there is one person who eats three slices of bread for breakfast, and there are three people, each of whom eats only one slice. Who should be on a diet?” he says. “If per capita energy consumption is viewed in the context of the fundamental principle that people are all born equal, then I don’t think some people are justified in talking about the large emissions of China, as if they have the moral high ground.”
