The UK's climate change official at the Foreign Office, John Ashton, has told reporters that China is now building two power stations every week, instead of one.
His statement was supported by new figures from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, which suggest that China's emissions rose by 9 per cent last year, giving China the dubious accolade of the 'world's biggest polluter' several years earlier than expected.
But Ashton was clear where the blame for rising emissions lies:
'Most of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have been put there by deevloping countries without the contrainst of having to worry about the climate. That means we should bear the leading edge of responsiblity,' he told the BBC.
He also pointed the finger at rising Western import of cheap Chinese goods, forcing up industrial energy consumption, whilst per capita energy use in the country remained a fraction of that of US or British citizens.
This article first appeared in the Ecologist June 2007
