China consumes more energy despite 'green' policies

Aug 1, 2006, 15:27 GMT

Beijing - China's energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product rose by 0.8 per cent in the first half of this year, despite a target of reducing consumption by 4 per cent in the full year, the government said on Tuesday.

'The situation is not promising for regions and major industries to cut their energy consumption,' state media the National Bureau of Statistics as saying.

'It will be a very challenging task for them to attain this year's goal,' an unidentified bureau official said.

The increase in energy consumption in the first six months of 2006 was 'mainly a result of poor performance in some energy-intensive industries', he said

The worst culprits were the mining and petrochemical industries, which increased energy consumption per unit of GDP by 5.5 per cent and 8.7 per cent, respectively.

But there was some movement towards generation of cleaner power, as the rate of standard coal consumption dropped by 6 grams to 362 grams per kilowatt-hour in the first half of 2006, the official Xinhua news agency said.

China's estimated GDP grew by 10.9 per cent in the first half of 2006, the bureau said in an earlier report, raising fears of overheating and overinvestment in key industries.

In March, Premier Wen Jiabao set a broad target of 8 per cent GDP growth this year and average growth of about 7.5 per cent for the next five years.

Energy consumption per unit of GDP should fall by about 4 per cent this year, Wen said as he outlined government policies to use pricing and taxation to encourage conservation of natural resources.

China failed to hit key five-year targets for environmental protection by the end of last year, including a planned decrease of 10 per cent in discharge of major pollutants.

Its energy consumption for each 10,000 yuan (1,250 dollars) of output was 27 per cent over the target for 2001 to 2005, state media said.