The Chinese government has reiterated its intention to meet
strict energy efficiency and pollutant reduction targets, which it
failed last year, in an official work plan published Sunday.
The General Work Plan for Energy Conservation and Pollutant
Discharge Reduction shows that China will stick to the original
plan of energy saving as well as reducing major pollutant
discharges by 10 percent.
Under a five-year plan to 2010, China pledged to cut energy
consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 20 percent,
or four percent each year, but consumption fell by just 1.23
percent last year.
Electricity, steel, nonferrous metals, construction materials,
oil processing and chemicals, the six high energy-consuming and
highly polluting industries, which account for nearly 70 percent of
energy consumption and sulfur dioxide discharges of the entire
industrial sector, grew by 20.6 percent in the first quarter of
2007, 6.6 percentage points higher than the same period a year
earlier.
The plan criticized government departments for their poor
awareness of the importance of energy efficiency and pollutant
reduction.
China will reform the mechanism of evaluating local governments
and their leaders by including the implementation of energy-saving
and emission-reduction tasks into their performances, the plan
said, and it asked relevant departments to work out detailed
measures for this reform.
Together with Ministry of Finance, the State Environmental
Protection Administration and five other authorities, China's top
economic planner National Development and Reform Commission has
kicked off a campaign to ensure the elimination of high-energy
consuming and heavy-polluting industries.
The campaign, aimed at curbing excessive growth of energy
consuming and polluting industries, will run until the end of June,
focusing on the iron and steel, copper, alumina, cement, power and
coking sectors.
Monitors will investigate the local governments' performance in
implementing the central government's macro controls on the energy
consuming and polluting industries.
China will promote the use of renewable energy resources, such
as wind power, solar power, hydro power, methane and terrestrial
heat. The country will also establish medium- and long-term
outlines on fuel ethanol and bio ethanol, the plan said.
According to the plan, units, branches and bodies of the central
government will take the lead of using energy-saving lights and 50
million similar lights will be in use nationwide by 2010.
Meanwhile, the plan makes it compulsory for government
departments to purchase highly efficient energy-saving,
water-saving and environmental-friendly products in governmental
procurement, such as conditioners, computers, printers and
displays.
The state will encourage and direct financial institutions to
enhance credit support for environment-protection and
pollution-reduction projects. The government will also offer
preferential tax treatments for such projects.
China will also reform pricing mechanism for resource products,
such as refined oil, natural gas and electricity, and restrict the
export of high-energy consuming and heavy-polluting products.
China will optimize energy use in high-energy consuming
industries, such as steel, non-ferrous metal, petrochemical and
cement production, realize energy-saving capacities of 50 million
tons of standard coal in 2007 and 240 million tons by 2010.
The country will save 31.5 million tons of standard coal this
year and 118 million tons by 2010, and cut sulfur dioxide emissions
by 400,000 tons in 2007 and by 2.4 million tons by 2010.
To meet the goals, the government will accelerate the
elimination of out-dated production capacities and reduce chemical
oxygen demand (COD) by by 620,000 tons this year and by 1.38
million tons by 2010.
To meet the goal, the government has set a list of targets,
including:
-- Solid fuel-burning electricity generating capacity will be
reduced by 10 million kilowatts this year and 50 million kilowatts
by 2010;
-- Iron ore production capacity to lose by 30 million tons this
year and 100 million tons by 2010;
-- Steel production to close 35 million tons of capacity this
year and 55 million tons by 2010;
-- Electrolytic aluminum production to close 100,000 tons of
capacity this year and 650,000 tons by 2010;
-- Iron alloy production capacity to lose 1.2 million tons this
year and four million tons by 2010;
-- Calcium carbide production capacity to lose 500,000 tons this
year and two million tons by 2010;
-- Coke production capacity of 10 million tons will close this
year and 80 million tons by 2010;
-- Cement production capacity to lose 50 million tons this year
and 250 million tons by 2010;
-- Glass production capacity of six million weight boxes to be
closed this year and 30 million weight boxes by 2010;
-- Papermaking capacity of 2.3 million tons to be closed this
year and 6.5 million tons by 2010.
-- Alcohol production capacity to lose 400,000 tons this year
and 1.6 million tons by 2010;
-- Monosodium glutamate production capacity of 50,000 tons to be
eliminated this year and 200,000 tons by 2010;
-- Citric acid production to close 20,000 tons of capacity this
year and 80,000 tons by 2010.
The discharge of sulfur dioxide will drop from 25.49 million
tons in 2005 to 22.95 million tons in 2010 while chemical oxygen
demand (COD) should drop from 14.14 million tons to 12.73 million
tons, under the plan.
Desulfurizition facilities will be incorporated in all new solid
fuel-burning electricity plants with total power-generation
capacities of 188 million kilowatts and established plants with
capacities of 167 million kilowatts, cutting the country's sulfur
dioxide emissions by 5.9 million tons annually.
China has so far installed desulfurizition facilities in solid
fuel-burning electricity plants with total power-generation
capacities of 35 million kilowatts, eliminating 1.23 million tons
of sulfur dioxide emissions every year.
Daily urban sewage treatment capacity will rise to 12 million
tons this year 45 million tons by 2010 and the daily utilization
capacity of recycled water will reach one million tons this year
and 6.8 million tons by 2010.
Meanwhile, charges for sulfur dioxide emissions will double from
0.63 yuan to 1.26 yuan per kilogram in three years, while urban
sewage treatment fees of no more than 0.8 yuan per ton will be
implemented and rubbish treatment fees will be raised.
The government will ensure the urban sewage treatment rate will
reach 70 percent, the comprehensive use of industrial solid waste
60 percent, and water consumption per unit of industrial net profit
will drop by 30 percent.
The daily seawater desalination capacity will increase by
900,000 cubic meters and the use of water from mining shafts will
reach 2.6 billion cubic meters by 2010; the targets will be 70,000
cubic meters and 500 million cubic meters respectively in 2007.
The plan requires departments and local governments to
prioritize the tasks and use economic, legal and administrative
methods to curb excessive growth of high-energy consuming and
heavy-polluting industries.
Meanwhile, efforts must be made to adjust industrial structure,
improve technology, expand spending and strengthen monitoring.
(Xinhua News Agency June 4, 2007)