The International Energy Agency said last week that China would overtake the United States as the world's biggest emitter of heat-trapping carbon dioxide either this year or next.
But Gao Guangsheng, head of China's Office of the National Coordination Committee for Climate Change, said the claim did not have a concrete statistical basis.
"For some international organisations to reach the conclusion that China's carbon dioxide emissions are about to surpass the United States' is not only irresponsible but is also being used to apply pressure on the Chinese government," the Oriental Morning Post quoted him as saying.
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