* More CO2 emitted as industrial activity picks up
* Emissions still below pre-crisis levels in 2008
FRANKFURT, March 22 (Reuters) - German carbon dioxide emissions in 2010 were 4.8 percent higher than the year before at 826.5 million tonnes, a prominent researcher said on Tuesday.
"First estimates show that CO2 emissions in 2010, after the dramatic decline of 7 percent in 2009 (788.8 million), rose 4.8 percent year-on-year," said Hans-Joachim Ziesing, a former energy expert at the DIW institute who compiles energy statistics.
"But 2010 was still below 2008 and greatly so, by ... 2.5 percent," he said. The 2008 number was 848.0 million.
The German number is important for wholesale carbon emissions certificates markets. Polluters in identified sectors such as energy must hold CO2 emission rights to cover their production in the traded emission allowances market.
The results are due to be published in a trade magazine called Energiewirtschaftliche Tagesfragen in its April edition but were made available by Ziesing, who advises the Berlin economy and environment ministries.
They precede official numbers due later this month or April from environment agency Umweltbundesamt (UBA).
The 2010 result is in line with a resumption of industrial activity in Europe's biggest economy after the recession, but pre-crisis levels in many areas have not yet been recaptured, Ziesing said.
Germany's adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) rose 3.6 percent and manufacturing output rose more than 10 percent as producers of chemicals and metals filled their order books again.
More CO2 was also emitted, because the year was unusually cold, which boosted energy-derived CO2 output as heat providers burned more fuels.
Output of six so-called Kyoto gases, which cause global warming and include CO2, the heaviest pollutant, broadly developed in the same pattern, Ziesing said.
(Reporting by Vera Eckert, editing by Jane Baird)