"Either this year or next year," China will overtake the United States as the world's biggest emitter of heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) , the chief economist at the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, said on Wednesday.
Latest data show China is building a coal-fired power plant every four days, British foreign ministry official John Ashton said this week.
China is having to try and balance 10 percent annual economic growth with environmental and energy suppply issues.
The rapid growth in Chinese emissions puts in perspective western efforts to fight climate change, Birol said.
"What we do in Europe may be with good intentions, may be very ethical... but if you put it in terms of numbers it's meaning is very limited."
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