2006, June

At 1.66 billion metric tons of carbon in 2006, the People's Republic of China has surpassed the United States as the world's largest emitter of CO2 due to fossil-fuel use and cement production. According to reported energy statistics, coal production and use in China has increased ten-fold since the early 1960s. As a result, Chinese fossil-fuel CO2 emissions have grown 79.2% since 2000. China is the world's largest coal producer, which accounted for 98.7% of the carbon dioxide emissions in 1950 and 72.9% in 2006. Due to the massive increase in infrastructure projects and housing construction cement production has become increasingly important as a source of CO2 emissions.
In 2006, cement production accounts for almost 10% of China's total industrial CO2 emissions.

Literature:

Boden, T.A. / G. Marland / Andres, R.J. (2009): Global, Regional, and National Fossil-Fuel CO2 Emissions. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A. doi 10.3334/CDIAC/00001