China's carbon emissions 20% higher ? Is Earth warming faster ?

China's carbon emissions could be nearly 20% higher than previously thought, a new analysis of official Chinese data shows, suggesting the pace of global climate change could be even faster than currently predicted.

China has already overtaken the US as the world's top greenhouse gas polluter, producing about a quarter of mankind's carbon pollution that scientists say is heating the planet and triggering more extreme weather.

"The sad fact is that Chinese energy and emission data as primary input to the models will add extra uncertainty in modelling simulations of predicting future climatic change," say the authors of a study in the journal Nature Climate Change.