The United States and China have agreed to cooperate on developing an inventory of China's greenhouse gas emissions, the Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday, an initiative that appears be a response to criticism of Beijing's data collection.

Several senators whose votes are key to passage of domestic climate legislation, including Sen. Evan Bayh, an Indiana Democrat, have questioned whether they will be able to trust any greenhouse gas reductions China reports to the international community.

China has surpassed the United States as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases; together they account for roughly 40 percent of the world's output.

The memorandum of cooperation between China's National Development and Reform Commission and the EPA calls on the two countries to collaborate in several areas, including "capacity building for developing greenhouse gas inventories."

The two nations have already worked together on monitoring other industrial emissions, such as sulfur dioxide.

The Washington Post