China outpacing rest of world in natural resource use: UNEP

BANGKOK - China has surged ahead of the rest of the world in material consumption, creating intense environmental pressures - but it also remains among the most successful in the world in improving resource efficiency, according to a new report released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The report found that China’s growing affluence has made it the world’s largest consumer of primary materials (such as construction minerals, metal ores, fossil fuels and biomass), with domestic material consumption levels four times that of the USA.