(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-30 16:29

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, the 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, the SASAC's chief, told a meeting in Beijing on Wednesday.

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"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.

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