Global emissions of carbon dioxide will rise by 75 per cent between 2003 and 2030, the US government forecast yesterday. The world's emissions of CO2 would reach 43.7bn tonnes in 2030, up from 25bn tonnes in 2003, said the Energy Information Administration, the statistics arm of the Department of Energy.

The EIA said that in four years, CO2 emissions in developing countries in Asia, including China and India, would surpass North America. Coal combustion, could overtake oil as the largest fossil fuel source of CO2 emissions from 2015 to 2030.