2017 one of hottest in decades

China experienced its third-highest average temperatures in more than six decades last year as greenhouse gas emissions in the country kept increasing, according to the China Meteorological Administration.

The average temperature through 2017 was about 10.4 C, more than 0.8 C above the yearly average and the third highest since 1951, according to China Climate Bulletin, which was published by the administration on Monday.

Monitoring stations across the country observed 12.1 days with temperatures above 35 C, 4.4 days more than average and 1.4 days more than 2016, said the bulletin.

It also said 437 monitoring stations, or 71 percent of the total, across the country observed extreme hot weather, up by 37 percent from 2016.

Average number of days with temperatures above 35 C in 2017 across China.

Song Lianchun, chief of the National Climate Center, said China is sensitive to global warming and it’s a scientific conclusion that the increasing average temperature in the country is a result of the greenhouse effect.

China Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, which was released by the administration on the same day, shows that the annual average carbon dioxide concentrations at the three regional stations increased to 413.7 parts per million in Heilongjiang province, 417.7 ppm in Beijing and 410.3 ppm in Zhejiang province.

The global average stood at 403.3 ppm in 2016.

Satellite monitoring shows that global average carbon dioxide concentrations in 2016 increased by 3.2 ppm year-on-year from 2015, while in China it was up by 3.7 ppm.

“Greenhouse gas concentrations in different regions in the country are related to the levels of economic development,” Fang Shuangxi, an official with the administration, said at a news conference on Monday.

“Though carbon dioxide concentrations in the three regional stations in China were higher than the global average, the growth rate of the concentrations in these regions have been declining,” he added.

He said the slowing growth rate shows the achievement China has made in controlling greenhouse gas emissions, though it still needs data from the National Development and Reform Commission to confirm the conclusion.