General Electric brought its environmental programme to China yesterday, a major initiative to help the US conglomerate double its business in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

Jeff Immelt, chairman and CEO of the US giant, signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) to provide environmentally-friendly technology to China and formally kicked off the company's Ecomagination programme in the country.

"Today signifies the interface of two major internal themes at GE: Commitment to China and Ecomagination," said Immelt at the launching ceremony yesterday in Beijing.

China has become a significant emerging market for the world's largest industrial giant as its sales in China reached the previous goal set by Immelt to grow revenue in China to US$5 billion in 2005, almost twice the 2003 figure.

He said he expected the business to enjoy sustained growth in China in the next five years and to double again in that period.

GE's Ecomagination plan ties in with China's emphasis on energy efficiency and requirements for environmentally friendly solutions.

The company launched Ecomagination last May, aiming to achieve annual sales of US$20 billion in 2010 from environmentally friendly products and solutions.

But the figures released two weeks ago showed that sales from its Ecomagination products have already reached US$10.1 billion in 2005, up from US$6.2 billion in 2004.

Steve Bertamini, chairman and CEO of GE China, said his operations also received several hundred million dollars in revenue from Ecomagination products last year.

At the same time, China put energy efficiency on the top of its agenda, setting a goal to cut energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product in 2010 by 20 per cent from the end of 2005.

Zhang Guobao, vice-minister of NDRC, welcomed the efforts to help China's energy efficiency and environmental protection.

According to the memorandum between NDRC and GE, the US giant will provide technology such as coal gasification, wind energy solutions, regional jet development, advanced locomotive development, desalination, and energy-efficient lights.

Last October, GE signed a contract with the Ministry of Railway to provide 300 rail cars worth US$450 million, which cut gas exhaustion by 28 per cent.

The US behemoth also signed a memorandum of understanding with Tsinghua University yesterday to jointly develop clean technology to take advantage of the university's strength in developing green energy solutions and GE's experience in learning customers' demands and the local market environment.

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