Scientists through a recent research have estimated that greenhouse gas emissions in China have been overestimated by international agencies and its energy consumption has been underestimated.

The research published on Thursday in Nature showed that from 2000 to 2013 China has produced nearly 2.9 gigatonnes less carbon as compared to previous estimates given on its cumulative emissions. This means that China's greenhouse gas emission would have been around 14% lower than the calculated amount.

On the other hand, the team revealed that China's with a population of 1.4 billion has grew in its energy consumption nearly 10% faster during 2000-12 than reported by its national statistics.

China, world's biggest greenhouse gas producer with its recent emissions to peak by 2030, has been praised as responsible leadership on the climate issue. But as per researchers, the nation's faster-than-expected energy consumption growth could make meeting its target even a bigger challenge.

The team led by Dabo Guan, of University of East Anglia's (UAE) School of International Development for their study, used independently assessed data on the amount of fuel burned, and new measurements of emissions factors to re-evaluate emissions of two major sources of China's carbon dioxide emissions i.e. the burning of fossil fuels and cement production from 1950-2013.

According to Guan, their new estimates were compiled by considering fuel quality when establishing emissions inventories. "While China is the largest coal consumer in the world, it burns much lower-quality coal, such as brown coal, which has a lower heat value and carbon content compared to the coal burned in the U.S. and Europe", said Guan.