China ready to overtake U.S. as the world's largest CO2 emitter

Excerpts from this article:

China and India are under pressure to reduce their carbon emissions, but energy executives and government representatives at an energy conference in Rome agreed Wednesday that the two booming economies will be sticking with coal - whether the rest of the world likes it or not.
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China is due to overtake the U.S. as the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide this year, while India will become the third-biggest emitter around 2015, according to estimates by the International Energy Agency.

"We have no right to blame India" or China, said Fatih Birol, the IEA's chief economist. "Coal is currently the cheapest energy source to produce electricity and least vulnerable in terms of energy security."

Note that on a per capita basis, the BBC says "Australians named worst emitters".