China's state assets watchdog has called on major state-owned firms to meet
energy saving and pollution reduction targets a year ahead of schedule.
The 154 central state-owned enterprises (SOEs) with high energy consumption
pollutant discharge levels must guarantee to cut energy consumption per unit of
industrial output by 20 percent and major pollutants emissions by 10 percent
from the 2005 level in 2010, according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and
Administration Commission (SASAC).
Huang Shuhe, SASAC's deputy chief, said the industries should strive to reach
the compulsory target in 2009.
"The giant companies can serve as a catalyst for energy efficiency
improvement and pollution reduction in society as a whole," Li Rongrong, SASAC's
chief, told a meeting in Beijing on Wednesday.
"They are both the responsibilities and obligations of businesses. Whether or
not they can meet the target has a direct bearing on the whole country."
The six industries of power, steel, oil and petrochemical, metallurgy,
chemicals, and construction materials, consume 70 percent of energy for industry
and release the same percentage of sulfur dioxide.
China has set the target of reducing its energy consumption per unit of gross
domestic product by 20 percent and of cutting total pollution by 10 percent
between 2006 and 2010.
China's energy consumption per unit of GDP dropped 2.78 percent in the first
half of 2007 from a year earlier. Meanwhile, its sulfur dioxide emissions fell
0.88 percent, but the chemical oxygen demand, which measures water quality, rose
0.24 percent.
"The SOEs should assign specific staff or departments to analyze and
supervise their energy saving and pollution reduction practices and set up
monitoring systems to prevent major energy waste and environment degradation,"
Huang said.
The SASAC also ordered firms to step up efforts to develop and apply energy
saving techniques and equipment and to abandon outdated production facilities.
The 30 most energy-consuming firms are ordered to report the data on the
energy consumption and pollutant emissions quarterly, and 66 that consume less
energy half-yearly and the other 58 yearly.
"Many SOEs have made progress in eliminating less energy efficient and highly
polluting techniques and equipments in the past couple of years, but there are
still some that are still using them," Huang said.
The SASAC would also promote good energy saving and pollution reduction
practices and report company officials who cause energy waste, serious
environmental degradation or make false reports, said Huang.