China to unveil regional rankings for green development index

China will unveil by the end of this year regional rankings for the green development index, a system that evaluates economic performance based upon a number of environmental indicators rather than merely the speed of growth, the head of the National Bureau of Statistics said Saturday.

Based upon the index, the government will further develop the system and roll out new statistical methods to better promote high-quality growth, Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, said during the annual conference of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

"China has switched from pursuing high-speed growth to looking to achieve high-quality growth, and local economic performance evaluation systems should be adjusted to better support China to achieve new goals," Ning said.

The government has created a yardstick for evaluating economic performance.

The index, which was introduced late last year, measures economic development based upon indicators such as total energy consumption, carbon emissions per unit of gross domestic product and total water consumption.