China has surpassed the US as the world's largest carbon emitter PIERRE MARIO FITTER According to recent reports from The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and the University of California, Berkeley, China overtook the US as the world's largest carbon emitter in 2006. However, China maintains that total emissions is the wrong statistic to measure a country's carbon footprint and advocate emissions per person instead. In which case, tiny countries such as Luxembourg, with the highest standards of living and therefore high per capita carbon emissions, would be most responsible for climate change! China emits 6.2 billion tonnes of carbon each year. India's argument is similar to that of China. With 1.4 billion tonnes of carbon emitted per year, the country is the world's fourth worst polluter, and its carbon footprint is continuously growing. Since India projects itself as an Asian powerhouse and seeks a UN Security Council seat, its duplicitous posturing over climate change may have to end soon.