By Laura MacInnis

GENEVA, July 6 (Reuters) - China needs to improve its measurements of carbon dioxide emissions before it can agree to quantitative targets, an academic and adviser to Beijing on climate change said on Friday.

Zou Ji, a professor at China's Renmin University who has helped the government draft its climate change strategy, said the country will not be ready for legally binding emissions goals until its data becomes more sound.

"As an adviser, I tell my government: 'Do not set up quantitative environmental targets for the moment because there is no reliable scientific or statistical basis for the moment'," he told reporters in Geneva during a United Nations summit on business, human rights and the environment.

Noting that "even developed countries have big difficulties" curbing their greenhouse gas output, Zou said China was seeking to mitigate its contribution to global warming but would need better access to clean-energy technology to do so.

The Asian powerhouse economy, set to outpace the United States as the world's top carbon emitter, is facing increasing calls to impose quotas on the gases that scientists say trap heat in the atmosphere and trigger severe storms, floods and droughts.

Last month, Beijing unveiled a climate change plan avoiding quantitative targets on emissions cuts, saying caps that hurt growth would do more damage than global warming itself.

Zou said China's overall emissions were bound to keep rising as more of its 1.3 billion people benefit from economic growth. Many rural dwellers are still living without basics such as electricity, he said.

"China is developing. China is achieving its development goals with higher per capita income, better living standards for its people. This means its people will consume more energy," he said. "With the progress in urbanisation it is very natural for China to increase its energy use."

Chinese officials have estimated that in 2004, China's average per capita emissions were one-fifth of U.S. levels.

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