City-dwellers emit less CO2 than countryfolk: study

"Many polluting and carbon-intensive manufacturing processes are no longer located in Europe or North America, sited elsewhere in the world to take advantage of lower labor costs and less rigorous environmental enforcement," the report said.

Anna Tibaijuka, executive director of UN-Habitat, said in a presentation last week that cities emit 50-60 percent of greenhouse gases, rising to 80 percent if you include the indirect emissions generated by city-dwellers.

She said more than half of the world's population now lives in cities but they consume 75 percent of global energy.

(Additional reporting by Alister Doylein Oslo; Editing by Michael Urquhart)