SINGAPORE — Two recent news reports have underscored China's voracious appetite for oil and the impact of unrestrained burning of coal and other fossil fuels on global climate change. Both point to the need for Japan, the United States, Canada, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand — the six Asia-Pacific members of the International Energy Agency — to use their influence to help bring China and India into the IEA, the leading international organization for energy research and cooperation.
China's rise as an energy titan was in the spotlight again this month when it reported that oil imports surged to a record level in March despite sky-high prices. China imported an average of just over 4 million barrels a day, nearly as much as Japan — the world's second biggest economy.
Meanwhile, a research team at the University of California has concluded that China's global-warming emissions have been underestimated and probably passed those of the U.S., long the world's top polluter, in the last two years. The report, to be published next month, warns that unless China radically changes its energy policies, its increases in greenhouse gases will be several times larger than the cuts in emissions that rich nations are struggling to make under the Kyoto Protocol by the time it ends in 2012.