China: Polluter #1

A report to be published next month declares China the top carbon polluter on the planet. China surpassed the United States as the #1 polluter sometime between 2004 and 2007. Estimates for China's greenhouse gas emissions tend to be underestimated, as China's environmental reporting standards are lax. If China continues its current policy, its contributions to greenhouse emissions will become several times larger than the cuts initiated by the Kyoto Protocol. A group of climate scientists set 2020 as the year climate change must stabilized by or else the planet faces irreparable damage.