In all, estimates were derived for 234 countries. Sulfur content and sulfur retention information based on the individual country's activities also figured into the estimates. In the former Soviet Union, there has been a greater reliance on natural gas, which is abundant in Russia. In the United States, alternative fuels such as natural gas and nuclear power have made an impact. As for China, it is an immense country with a growing population, and their coal reserves are massive and predominantly soft coal, which is the dirtier kind.
China is in the midst of a booming industrialization process.
It makes economic sense for them to burn coal because it is so abundant. We've begun to see more acid rain complaints in Indochina, Japan and Korea, mostly from Chinese sulfur emissions. So, in the broad sense, as we begin a new century, that big problem of the '70s and '80s has now shifted more toward the East. The United States, the former Soviet Union and China have been the world's major powers during the past 50 years, and they easily lead the world in sulfur production, accounting for 53 percent of global sulfur emissions during the latter part of the study. The European community was next, followed by Japan.