China rejected a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) saying the nation surpassed the United States last year to become the world’s largest energy consumer, claiming its calculations are “unreliable.” The Paris-based agency said China’s 2009 consumption of energy sources was equal to 2.25 billion tons of oil, compared to 2.17 billion tons used that year by the U.S. Per capita, however the U.S. still consumes five times more energy than China, IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol said. “The IEA’s data on China’s energy use is unreliable,” Zhou Xi’an of the National Energy Administration (NEA), said at a press conference in Beijing. China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in February that China’s energy consumption last year stood at the equivalent of 3.1 billion tons of standard coal, which was equal to 2.13 billion tons of oil. Zhou noted the IEA lacked understanding about China’s relentless efforts to cut energy use and emissions, notably the country’s aggressive expansion of new energy sources. China will focus on using more non-fossil fuels and cutting carbon emissions over the next five years, the Shanghai Daily reports.