China wants to stop energy-guzzling industries

(AFP)

Filed on May 27, 2007

BEIJING - China’s top economic planning agency has told local authorities to remove preferential policies for industries which consume disproportionate amounts of energy, state media said Sunday.

The order from the National Development and Reform Commission, reported by the Xinhua news agency, comes amid growing signs the government’s ambitious energy-saving plans are failing.

It was unclear which sector would be targeted, but the power, steel, oil refinery, chemicals, construction materials and metals industries account for 70 percent of energy for industry, according to state media.

Xinhua also did not give specific details about which type of preferential policy would be removed, but it could refer to tax holidays or cheap use of government land.

The Chinese government set a goal of reducing energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 20 percent by 2010, but failed miserably in 2006, the first year of implementation.

Energy consumption fell only 1.23 percent last year, less than one third of the annual goal of four percent.