Data shows China's emissions from coal greatly underestimated

Beijing

CHINA, the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases from coal, is burning far more annually than previously thought, according to new government data. The finding could complicate the already difficult efforts to limit global warming.

Even for a country of China's size and opacity, the scale of the correction is immense. China has been consuming as much as 17 per cent more coal each year than reported, according to the new government figures. By some initial estimates, that could translate to almost a billion more tonnes of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere annually in recent years, more than all of Germany emits from fossil fuels.

Officials from around the world will have to come to grips with the new figures when they gather in Paris this month to negotiate an international framework for curtailing greenhouse-gas pollution. The data also pose a challenge for scientists who are trying to reduce China's smog, which often bath…