If China truly wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the government needs to concentrate policies on production-heavy central and western provinces, according to a new study that finds China is shifting rather than curbing its carbon footprint.

The study, published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that 4 gigatons, or 57 percent, of China's emissions comes from goods that are consumed outside of the province where they are produced, like steel or cement. Meanwhile, as much as 80 percent of emissions related to goods consumed in Beijing, Shanghai and other wealthier coastal regions is imported from less developed provinces.

A group of Latin American and Caribbean nations have decided that Peru should host the U.N. climate change conference in 2014, several people close to the process said yesterday.

The decision by the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries in the United Nations (GRULAC) will be announced today in Bonn, Germany.

Researchers have compiled a list of 100 U.S. companies that emit the most greenhouse gases, the top three of which are giant electricity producers. The fourth-largest emitter is the federal government.

American Electric Power Co., Duke Energy Corp. and Southern Co., all of which use huge amounts of coal to generate energy for millions of American customers, are identified as the top three producers of carbon dioxide and other gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. Together they were responsible for almost 6 percent of the nation's emissions in 2011.

President Obama and new Chinese President Xi Jinping emerged from a California retreat this weekend with an agreement to ratchet down greenhouse gases from refrigerants that environmentalists are hailing as a major step in addressing climate change.

While no targets were set or legally binding measures taken, the two leaders vowed to phase down the consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). The compounds, widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners, currently make up 1 percent of greenhouse gas emissions but are considered the fastest-growing climate pollutant in both the United States and China, expected to rise to 19 percent by 2050 if left unchecked.