On September 9, Xin Guobin, director of the operation supervision department of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), stated that the country's energy saving and emission reduction targets for the current year can be achieved.
In China's 11th five-year plan period (2006-2010), the target is to reduce energy consumption per GDP unit by 20 percent. In the first four years of the five-year period, a reduction of 14.38 percent was achieved, which means that in the final year alone of the period in question energy consumption needs to be reduced by 5.62 percent.
According to Mr. Xin, "H1 2010 saw a reduction of just 1.25 percent, so the task is a tough one for the months ahead." He said that, in order to reach the targets, China's State Council held a videophone conference to make specific arrangements, following which most provinces drew up emergency plans.
Mr. Xin stated that, starting from the end of July, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hebei, Shanxi and some other provinces placed restrictions on industries with high levels of energy consumption and emissions. He affirmed that, supported by local governments and relevant departments, the targets for the current year can be achieved.