China's cumulative emissions of carbon

6,100 carbon dioxide equivalent, of which 5,050 million tons is carbon dioxide, 720 million is carbon dioxide equivalent of methane and 330 million is carbon dioxide equivalent of nitrous oxide. From 1994 to 2004, the average annual growth rate of GHG emissions is around 4 percent, and the share of carbon dioxide in total GHG emissions increased from 76 percent to 83 percent.

“China's cumulative emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion accounted for only 9.33 percent of the world total during the period of 1959-2002, and the cumulative carbon dioxide emissions per capita are 61.7 tons over the same period, ranking the 92nd in the world.

“Statistics from the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicate that per capita carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion were 3.65 tons in 2004 in China, equivalent to only 87 percent of the world average and 33 percent of the level of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and development (OECD) countries.

“Along with steady social and economic development, the emission intensity defined as the carbon dioxide emission per unit of GDP declined generally. According to the IEA, China's emission intensity fell to 2.76 kg carbon dioxide per U.S. dollar (at 1999 prices) in 2004, as compared to 5.47 kg carbon dioxide per U.S. dollar in 1990, a 49.5 percent decrease. For the same period, emission intensity of the world average dropped only 12.6 percent and of the OECD countries dropped 16.1 percent.”

Since China is a developing country, it is not surprising that its per capita CO₂ emission was only 87 percent of the world average and 33 percent of the level of the OECD countries. The concern is the rate of increase in China’s per capita CO₂ emission.

There is a consensus in the scientific community that the level of total CO₂ in the atmosphere should not exceed a level equal to twice the level existing before the Industrial Revolution (see Pacala and Socolow, 2004). Exceeding that level could cause violently unstable weather, melting glaciers and prolonged draughts. If the rate of increase in emission in the future continues as it did in the last thirty years, this critical level could be reached in fifty years’ time. Therefore CO₂ emission is a critical and