The United States of America is off the hook: China has
overtaken the US to become the world’s biggest emitter of carbon
dioxide. From now on, China will be the main target of the
criticism that used to be directed at the US for refusing to
accept binding limits on its greenhouse gas emissions. What’s
striking is the speed with which China has passed the US. In
2005 its carbon dioxide emissions were two per cent lower than
that of the US; in 2006 they were eight per cent higher. Yet
China only has four times the population of the US, and the
average Chinese is nothing like a quarter as rich as the average
American. In fact, the vast majority of Chinese don’t even own
cars. So why does China produce so much carbon dioxide' One
reason is cement. The pace of building in China is so intense
that the country produces 44 per cent of the world’s cement (the
US produces 4 per cent), and cement production is a major source
of greenhouse gases. The main culprit, however, is coal, which
accounts for 70 per cent of China