China has overtaken the United States as the world's biggest producer of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, figures released today show. The surprising announcement will increase anxiety about China's growing role in driving man-made global warming and will pile pressure onto world politicians to agree a new global agreement on climate change that includes the booming Chinese economy. According to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, soaring demand for coal to generate electricity and a surge in cement production have helped to push China's recorded emissions for 2006 beyond those from the US already. It says China produced 6,200 million tons of CO2 last year, compared with 5,800 million tons from the US. Per head of population, China's pollution remains relatively low - about a quarter of that in the US and half that of the UK. The announcement comes as international negotiations to produce a new climate treaty to succeed the Kyoto protocol when it expires in 2012 are delicately poised. The US refused to ratify Kyoto partly because it made no demands on China, and one major sticking point of the new negotiations has been finding a way to include both nations, as well as other rapidly developing economies such as India and Brazil.

John Vidal and David, Adam, Guardian
Do you feel that after the release of figures showing that China has surpassed the United States as the world's biggest producer of carbon dioxide, the US decision not to ratify the Kyoto protocol has been validated?