Mar 23, 2015 11:58 AM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

China's top weather scientist has warned of the potentially devastating effects climate change could have on the environment.

According to BBC News, China's average temperature was already a bit higher than the rest of the world. No country is as polluted as China and the country worries its massive gas emissions are hastening the effects of climate change.

Zheng Guogang, China's meteorological chief, told the state's Xinhua News Agency climate change poses a "serious threat."

"To face the challenges from past and future climate change, we must respect nature and live in harmony with it," he said. "We must promote the idea of nature and emphasize climate security."

China is not alone in producing massive amounts of carbon emissions, as they combine with the United States to account for nearly half of the world's, BBC News reported.

"As the world warms, risks of climate change and climate disasters to China could become more grave," Zheng said, according to NPR.

The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) recently released the National Assessment Report on Risk Management and Adaptation of Climate Extremes and Disasters. The report was co-authored by more than 100 people from a dozen countries.

"It is projected that by the end of the 21st century there will be higher risks of extreme high temperatures, floods and droughts in China," the CMA said in a statement. "The population growth and wealth accumulation in the 21st Century is projected to have superposition and amplification effects on the risks of weather and climate disasters."

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