China's development of low-carbon economy faces pressure from the imbalanced global trading mode, according to an academic report released on Tuesday.

Experts from research institutions in China, Japan and the United States said in the Annual Report on China's Low-carbon Economic Development (2011) that China should seek more intensified participation in the global division of labor.

To illustrate the imbalanced trading mode, the report took a made-in-China Barbie doll as an example. It said that from production to the customers' purchase, three-quarters of the total carbon emission occurred in China, while it only keeps one tenth of the value added.

The report revealed that such a mode would benefit developed countries with technologies, brands, channels and market advantages, but brought relatively little influence to developing countries stuck in low-end manufacturing.

Other difficulties for China's development of low-carbon economy include the heavy use of coal in energy consumption, low efficiency in energy use, and growing population pressures in urban areas, the report said.

The report suggested that China should stick to the principle of maintaining economic growth by setting growth-backed emission reduction targets.