China officially 'at least level' with the US in emissions

According to an announcement made by a government official in the country, China is now level with and has possibly overtaken the US as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Deputy chief of the national development and reform commission Xie Zhenhua, said in a landmark statement it is likely that China is now the world's number one polluter.

For more than 100 years, the US was identified as the planet's largest damaging gases-emitting nation.

However, China has failed to release official statistics on the country's industrial emissions for the last 14 years.

Mr Zhenhua announced: "Based on the information we have at hand, our total emissions are about the same as the United States. Whether or not we have surpassed the United States is not in itself important."

This week, the Chinese government released a paper which acknowledged that its dependence on coal is hindering the country in its quest to reduce its emissions.