Most places in China witnessed a lower increase of carbon dioxide concentration in 2016 than the global average, Xinhua reported Tuesday, quoting a recently released Greenhouse Gas (GHG) report by a Chinese meteorological authority.

The 2016 China GHG Bulletin by China Meteorological Administration (CMA) echoes the data in the 2016 World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Bulletin released on October 30, 2017. The WMO report said the year of 2016 saw a substantial growth of global carbon dioxide concentration, about 3.3ppm, which is higher than the global average of 2.16ppm from 2010 to 2016.

In 2016, the CO2 concentration of the mainland reached 402.5±4.5ppm on average, but the concentration growths in most parts of China were lower than the global average, and there has been a drop in growth over the past five years.

The emission of GHG is highly related to how developed the region’s economy is, according to CMA. In Tianjin, Beijing, Hebei province, and Yangtze River Delta, where economy is more developed, more carbon dioxide was detected.

China started testing for GHG in 1996. Today, there are seven global atmosphere watch programs based in China.