China's overstated carbon emissions highlight need for better energy data, analysts say

New research revealing that China emitted less carbon in the past decade than previously estimated will help the country develop more concrete climate-change policies and highlights the need for more accurate energy data, experts say.

China's total carbon emissions in 2013 were 14 per cent less than the figures used by the UN's panel of experts tasked with providing the scientific framework for global climate talks, according to a study by the journal Nature.

From 2000 to 2013, China - the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter - produced nearly three billion tonnes less carbon than previously estimated, according to the report, which was published on Wednesday.

The study comes as China prepares to negotiate a new climate-change plan at a UN conference in Paris in December. Critics say China - whose emissions account for 24 per cent of the global total - has set pledges that are not aggressive enough.

Premier Li Keqiang has pledged that carbon emissions will peak by 2030. The nation set a goal to reduce carbon emissions per unit of gross domestic product by 60 to 65 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030, and increase the share of non-fossil fuels in its energy mix by 20 per cent.

Dabo Guan, a co-author of the study and professor of climate change economics at the University of East Anglia, said the new research gave a more accurate baseline for policymakers to come up with measures to mitigate carbon emissions.