| Summary: | With China’s rapid economic development, energy and electricity consumption are growing very fast. From 2001 to 2012, the annual average growth rate of energy consumption and electricity consumption were 7.9 per cent and 11.5 per cent respectively. This in turn led to a significant increase in China’s CO<sub>2</sub> emissions. In 2000, China’s CO<sub>2</sub> emissions were about half the US level and per capita CO<sub>2</sub> emissions were two-thirds the average global level. However, in 2008, China became the world’s largest emitter of CO<sub>2</sub>. In 2010, China’s CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from energy combustion were 7.12 billion tonnes, accounting for over a fifth of global CO<sub>2</sub> emissions, and per capita emissions surpassed the world average level. Between 2000 and 2010, China contributed 60 per cent of the increase in global CO<sub>2</sub> emissions.
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