Sylvia Rose, of Diptford, writes:

In partial response to Peter Wyatt's letter of August 14, the reason China and India have such large figures for carbon emissions is because they are, self-evidently, very large countries with an awful lot of people living in them.

Likewise Luxembourg, for example, emits very little carbon dioxide because it is a very small country, even though the average standard of living of its population is far higher than that of India or China.

These latter two countries are often cited by western sources as high producers of carbon dioxide, but this is disingenuous and more likely reflects the USA's, in particular, fear of China becoming a major competitor than of a real commitment to reducing carbon dioxide emissions worldwide.

A more reasonable measure would be of each country's carbon dioxide emissions per capita.

And which countries top that league table? Not those in the developed West, but the Gulf states.

Funny that we don't ever hear our Government complaining about them.