China
's energy needs secure, expert assures
May 22 (China Daily) --
China
will work
toward ensuring energy security, at least, for the next 10 years despite
mounting concerns to the contrary, a senior energy advisor to the government
has asserted.
Han Wenke, member of the National
Energy Advisory Committee said this yesterday during a panel discussion at a
two-day seminar, 'Energy Security in Asia', held in
Beijing
. He was responding to queries
regarding the factors affecting
China
's
energy supply.
"Factoring in all the
concerns, we can conclude that
China
's
energy security can be ensured at least in the coming decade," said Han.
The relatively lower growth rate
of energy consumption since 2005 has come as good news for the Chinese
government even as the economy has been growing at a high pace, said Han.
Currently, the energy consumption
growth was about 4 percent, dramatically dropping from 15 percent and 16
percent in 2003 and 2004 respectively.
Han said the strengthened
measures to improve energy efficiency would keep energy demand growing at about
4 percent annually in future while the economy grows at around 8 percent.
"Stable and low demand
growth is essential to energy security," said Han, also president of the
Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission.
He said other factors, such as
the dramatic fluctuation in global oil prices, geopolitics, and domestic
emergency response systems to energy supply suspension can also affect
China
's energy
security.
"But all the factors are
changing and through our efforts the damages due to these factors can be
minimized," said Han.
Ding Zhimin, deputy department
director of policies and laws at the National Energy Administration, told China
Daily that
China
would continually depend on domestic supply to solve its energy problem.
"This is a strategy that we
will not change and that's the foundation of our energy security," said
Ding.
She said
China
would
make strides in constructing nuclear, solar and wind power stations while
exploring conventional energy resources.
Han said
China
would not
slacken in efforts at oil and natural gas exploration at home despite plunging
global oil prices. He added that
China
would do more to tap oil and
gas, especially in deepseas, to meet its growing energy demand.
"We are determined to
explore more oil and natural gas resources to ensure our energy security even
though oil prices are low now," Han said.
While strengthening domestic
efforts,
China
will also
continuously import more oil from overseas producers, said Han, forecasting
that
China
's
oil imports will increase from last year's 190 million tons to nearly 360 millions
in 2020.
Last year,
China
's
dependence on oil imports had already reached 50 percent. Oil prices have
plunged from $
147 a
barrel last July to around $35 this March. It has since surged by 75 percent
from the March low to around $
60 a
barrel.
"And, I think, by 2020 our
dependence on oil imports will touch 60 percent," said Han.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-05/22/content_7928825.htm )
China
's energy saving target must be ensured
May 19 (Xinhua) - China will make sure to meet its energy saving and
emission cut target up to 2010, which is a "solemn promise" to the
world, a senior official said Tuesday.
China
is "hopeful" to cut
energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 20 percent, and
cut emissions of major pollutants by 10 percent between 2006 and 2010, said Xie
Zhenhua, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission
(NDRC).
As one of the world's major CO2 emitter,
China
has been making consistent
efforts to curb pollution and save energy through improving industrial
structure.
In 2006,
China
's
energy consumption per unit of GDP fell 1.79 percent, the first drop since
2003. The figure fell 4.04 percent in 2007 and 4.59 percent last year.
From 2006 to 2008,
China
cut its energy consumption by 10.1 percent. That means saving 300 million tons
of standard coal and cutting CO2 emissions by 750 million tons, Xie said.
Last year, emissions of sulfur dioxide fell 5.95 percent and that for
Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), a main index of water pollution, dropped 4.42
percent.
However, some experts worried that, affected by the global financial
crisis, Chinese enterprises may have less impetus for spending on emission
reduction in 2009, and thus the country is faced with greater pressure of
emission reduction.
The goal has been met by half, and the task remains arduous, Xie
said."It is a hard task which should be ensured."
China
plans to eliminate 15 million kw
of power-generating capacity in small coal-powered plants, as well as obsolete
capacity of 10 million tons in the iron industry and 6 million tons in the
steel industry this year.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/20/content_11403629.htm )
May 25 (China Daily) –A slower world economic growth rate, especially a serious economic
recession in some of the world's major economies since the outbreak of the
global financial crisis, has caused worldwide demand for energy consumption to
drop drastically.
Against the backdrop of an
unprecedented financial crisis in a century, all countries have made all-out
efforts to find new areas for economic growth in an effort to pull out of the
ongoing crisis and rejuvenate their economies. In this process, the new energy
industry has been extensively considered as a new locomotive to drive a new
round of economic growth.
Since the outbreak of the global
financial tsunami, many countries in the world, developed ones in particular,
have made great efforts to boost the development of their new energy sector,
hoping that such a move would help them survive the prolonged economic winter.
In doing so, they aspire to take a strategic initiative in future global
economic development, and on such global issues as energy and climate change.
The ongoing financial crisis has not stopped the accelerated development of the
world's new energy industry. On the contrary, the crisis has expedited its
burgeoning development and given rise to an accompanying market competition.
That the development of the new
energy industry has been taken as an important way to grapple with the
financial crisis and as an effective tool to help take an initiative in the
increasing economic competition ahead marks a particularly prominent change in
the world's energy industry since the outbreak of the crisis.
China
has not lagged behind in this new economic
trend. At this year's session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference held in March, Zhang Guobao, chief of the
National Energy Administration, said the country will attach great importance
to the development of the new energy industry and will closely track the new
global trends in this field. He vowed "
China
will increase investment in
the new energy industry, strengthen scientific research in this field and raise
its development to a strategic position". The head of the newly
established agency, affiliated to the National Development and Reform
Commission, the country's macroeconomic decision-making body, also cautioned
that
China
would lag behind other nations in this emerging economic field if it does not
see this issue in a strategic perspective.
To sharpen its edge in increasing
international competition,
China
has regarded the development of new energy as an effective way to boost
slackened domestic demand. Some positive changes have emerged in
China
's
new energy policy, pushing the country's hydropower, wind power and nuclear
power to a new development stage.
The country's enormous hydropower
potential is yet to be fully tapped.
China
now boasts a water resource
with a theoretical capacity to generate 6.08 trillion kwh of power per year and
an average power of 690 million kw. The country's currently low installed
hydropower capacity indicates that the huge potential is yet to be tapped.
Currently, the largest factor in the way of the country's hydropower
development has changed from the earlier economic and technological
restrictions to the present-day ecological and environmental ones.
China
's wind energy is also in the blossoming
stage. Compared with solar power, wind power generation is more practicable and
more in keeping with the world's energy exploitation trend. According to the
third wind power census by the China Meteorological Administration in 2006, the
country's total land wind energy volume is about 4.2 billion kw, with an
exploitable capacity of 300 million kw. In addition, the country's exploitable
offshore wind energy is about 750 million kw.
The global financial crisis is
not expected to have a severe impact on
China
's booming wind power
industry. Instead, the crisis has offered rare chances for the country to
further boost its wind power sector. To effectively deal with the ongoing
crisis,
China
has taken wind power development as a key part of its newly mapped new energy
strategy. According to the country's power development program, a host of mega
wind power bases with a generation capacity of tens of thousands of kw are
planned to be built across
Gansu
,
Hebei
, and
Jiangsu
provinces and the
Inner Mongolia
autonomous
region within 10 years. That will contribute a lot to the development of the
wind power industry.
Also, nuclear power has entered a
booming development stage in
China
.
Since the 1970s when the State Council made a decision to develop nuclear
power, the country's nuclear power industry has made remarkable progresses.
China
is now well positioned to step up its nuclear power development in terms of
expertise, technological levels and equipment capability. The country's nuclear
power takes about 2 percent of its total power volumes.
China
had adopted a positive approach toward the
development of nuclear power. The National Energy Administration is actively
pursuing a special program for nuclear power development. With the substantive
support of the country's preferential policies, along with its possession of
well-developed technologies, the country's large-scale development of nuclear
power will become a reality. Nuclear power is expected to play a more important
role in the country's clean energy campaign.
The author Hu Shaowei is a senior economist with the
State
Information
Center
.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-05/25/content_7940179.htm )
May 12 (www.ccchina.gov.cn) -- Stock markets go into freefall, banks totter on the
verge of insolvency, governments open their vaults in a bid to bail out the
world's financial system.
Hardly the optimum time to
venture into a new category of high-risk emerging industries, one might think.
Or is it?
Wind power, solar energy, and
nuclear power, now the environmentally-friendly investments battlefields in
China
,
have taken a battering that even outstrips that meted out to the conventional
energy industries.
SDIC Electric Power Co, a fully
owned subsidiary of SDIC and one of the nation's major power investors, sees
clean energy providers as the next target sector for its continued expansion,
even if something of a contentious one.
Over the last two years, the
company has striven to develop low carbon-emission energy investments,
particularly in the wind power, solar energy, and nuclear power sector, as key
emerging industries in
China
.
Wang Huisheng, president of the
State Development and Investment Corp (SDIC), the parent company of SDIC
Electric Power Co, remains a keen advocate: "As
China
's economy grows, it will need
all the energy it can secure, including wind, solar, and nuclear. This clean
technology is at the top of our priorities as our next substantial investment
initiative."
As Wang maintains, although the
price of conventional fuels fell earlier this year, in the anticipation of the
economic slump, the issues of global warming and China's dependence on oil and
coal have not gone away.
He says: "
China
needs to shift toward a
low-carbon economy development model. Companies that can find innovative ways
to manage and conserve carbon will thrive."
Solar energy
In the dark days of the global
economic recession, SDIC is striving to bring a little into
China
through riding on the
coattails of the emerging solar photovoltaic (PV) industry.
On May 5 the SDIC Electric Power
Co signed a deal with Northwest China's
Qinghai
province to develop a solar PV energy project with a 200 Megawatt (MW) capacity
and, subsequently, feed the generated solar power into
China
's national grid.
The solar PV project will be
built on the city of
Golmud
in
Qinghai
, a plateaued area that boasts the
nation's richest sunshine resources. The first phase of its construction aims
to generate some 100MW.
In late March of this year, the
SDIC's first nuclear power project came online. The company secured a 10 per
cent stake in the Xudabao Nuclear Power station. The facility, set in Huludao,
a small coastal city in the northeastern
Liaoning
province, involves total investment capital of more than 90 billion yuan. It
will begin construction later this year and is scheduled to commence operations
by 2014.
Wind power
With wind power now widely tipped
to deliver a major blow to the conventional energy industries, SDIC is
committed to capitalizing on its potential within
China
.
In January SDIC's investment in
its latest wind turbine project received the nod from the National Development
and Reform Commission. This has seen it emerge as a key backer of the Kangbao
Wind Power Farm's second phase of construction. Set in the city of
Zhangjiakou
, in
Hebei
province, the company sees the development as a key move in its bid to emerge
as a major force within the wind power industry.
This approval was secured
following the success of SDIC's first wind turbine farm, the Jiancaitang Wind
Power Farm. Operated by the SDIC Baiyin Wind Power Company, it went into
operation last December, having secured a total investment estimated at around
436 million yuan.
When fully operational, it will
boast a total capacity of 45MW, with 99.32 million kilowatt hours (kwh) of
annual output. Occupying 16.3 sq km and with an installation of 30 1.5MW
generation units and a 110KV booster substation, the facility is the first wind
power project in northwest
China
's
Gansu
province.
SDIC's third wind power
investment, the Dongfeng Wind Power farm, located in
Jiuquan
,
Gansu
province, attracted a total investment of 499 million yuan. It completed site
construction last November and is expected to go into operation this year. Its
total installed capacity will be maintained at 49.5 MW. It features 33 1.5 MW
generation units and an 110KV booster substation.
The SDIC Huajing Power Holdings
Co Ltd, the listing unit of the SDIC Electric Power Co which floated on the
Shanghai Stock Exchange, suffered a 77.53 percent year-on-year plunge in its
net profit to 124 million yuan in 2008. The operating income from its core
business totaled 6.55 billion, showing a slight decline of 1.07 percent
year-on-year.
The company sees last year's
slight profit decline as a direct consequence of the surge in coal prices, leading
to higher operating costs for its thermal power division.
As of the end of 2008, SDIC
Huajing Power had a total installed capacity of 6.792 million kw.
(http://www.ccchina.gov.cn/en/NewsInfo.asp?NewsId=17335 )
May 22 (China Daily) - The Ministry of Finance (MOF) has pledged full
support to develop the country's fledging new energy and energy conservation
sectors as the future economic growth engines.
The ministry will allocate sizable subsidies to scale up
China
's wind
power industry, build solar power stations and encourage people to buy new fuel
vehicles and other energy-efficient home appliances, as well as improve
environment, Zhang Shaochun, vice-minister of finance, said yesterday at a
meeting with provincial officials.
In addition, the MOF incentives will be used to phase out
resources-consuming facilities, build more wastewater treatment facilities and
promote clean production measures.
"We cannot afford to waste time in developing
China
's new
energy industry, otherwise we will lag behind other countries," he said.
"Although we are facing extreme tight fiscal conditions this year,
the MOF will allocate 30 billion yuan ($4.40 billion) for energy conservation
projects and another 8 billion yuan for the renewable energy sector,"
Zhang said, adding policy incentives, especially those for public financing,
are essential to incubate an emerging industry.
The ministry will also reward local wind turbine manufacturers who come
up with innovations in the multi-MW wind turbine technology and will give
support for companies to provide grid connections for the wind farms located in
remote areas. The MOF will also join hands with the Ministry of Science and
Technology and the National Energy Administration to launch a "Golden Sun
Project", Zhang said without elaborating, but he promised that solar power
stations will be given subsidies and allowed to pass on the additional cost to
generate power from clean solar energy to end users.
The MOF and the Ministry of Science and Technology launched a trial
program early this year to give public transportation companies and government
agencies cash incentives for alternative-energy buses if they save at least 10
percent fuel. The fund covers 13 cities, including
Beijing
,
Shanghai
,
Chongqing
and Shenzhen.
In addition, it also cooperated with the country's top economic planner,
the National Development and Reform Commission, to offer cash incentives for
home appliances producers so that they could make the prices of the
energy-efficient air conditioners, refrigerators, plasma TV sets more
affordable to consumers.
According to
Zhang
,
China
will provide subsidy for
5,000 alternative-fuel public transportation vehicles and 3 million air
conditioners within the year.
Vice-Premier Li Keqiang reiterated that
China
should take the initiative in
scaling up its new energy and energy-saving sectors, as a way to improve core
competence, increase demand and nurture new growth sectors.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-05/22/content_7928801.htm )
May 4 (China Daily) --
China
has set a target for renewable energy consumption of 40 percent of the market
by the year 2050.
The news comes as it emerges that
China
will have 100 GW of wind power capacity by 2020, more than three times the 30
GW the government set as a target 18 months ago.
It's also been revealed that
China will become the biggest growth market for wind power generating capacity
this year, ahead of the United States, which has been worse-hit by the economic
downturn, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).
China
is the fourth largest producer
of wind power after the
United States
,
Germany
and
Spain
.
The annual growth rate in wind
power in
China
will be about
20 percent, Fang Junshi, head of the coal department of the National Energy
Administration, told a Coaltrans conference in
Beijing
.
China
, the world's second largest energy user,
has around 12 GW of wind power capacity and has said it wants to raise that to
around 20 GW by next year. That means wind is set to be a bigger source of
power than nuclear, despite a construction boom in nuclear power plants, and
far bigger than solar, which is expected to hit 1.8 GW by 2020, according to a
2007 plan.
More than 27 GW of wind power
generating plants worth about $53 billion were built around the world last
year. Demand for power in
China
has been spurred by economic stimulus measures.
"
China
is powering ahead with no
visible signs of slowing down," said Steve Sawyer of the Brussels-based
GWEC. "If anything it is accelerating. They intend to become the largest
market in the world, very clearly, and they probably will unless things take
off in the
US
again in the relatively near term."
China
's local wind turbine manufacturing industry
has "grown dramatically" as power production has expanded, Sawyer
said. Local manufacturers, dominated by Sinovel Wind Co, Xinjiang Goldwind
Science & Technology Co and Dongfang Electric Corp, captured more than half
the domestic market for the first time in 2007, rising to between 75 percent
and 80 percent last year.
"Although all the big
international brands are there and their markets are growing in absolute terms,
their market share is diminishing pretty rapidly," Sawyer said.
The growth in Chinese wind
turbine manufacturing means Chinese-made equipment is poised to emerge in the
international wind market "in earnest", Sawyer said.
Until now, Chinese suppliers have
only won smaller contracts in the
US
,
Cuba
,
Peru
, Africa and the
Middle
East
, he said.
Danish company Vestas, the
world's largest wind turbine maker, plans to invest $9 million in its factory
in
Inner Mongolia
to produce about 800 sets of
V60-turbines every year. These turbines are specially tailored for
Inner Mongolia
's low to medium strength winds, being
shorter with bigger blades than standard turbines. The factory will employ an
additional 1,000 Chinese people, about half of its current local employees.
The company, which entered the
Chinese market in 1986, has a market share of about 12 percent. This pales in
comparison with local competitors such as Sinovel, Goldwind and DEC, which took
about 65 percent of market share in 2008, according to Shi Pengfei,
vice-president of the China Wind Energy Association.
The World Wind Energy Report 2008
predicts that Asia, under
China
's
lead, will "become the worldwide locomotive for the wind industry" and
"Chinese wind turbine manufacturers will be among the top international
suppliers".
Wang Jun, director of the
National Energy Administration's renewable energy department, said:
"Renewable energy will become the mainstream power supply in 2050 from a supplementary
role in 2010." He envisaged a future with heating dependent on solar and
geothermal power, cars driven using biofuels and families owning their own
photovoltaic power stations, turning the country from the world's biggest
emitter of greenhouse gases to one of its smallest.
However, some are worried that
too much attention and aid is being paid to the renewable energy industry. They
argue
China
should focus on clean coal technology.
"Renewable energy is our
destiny, but it is not the solution to
China
's urgent problem of
large-scale coal burning," said Feng Xiaoting, director of Jiangsu Coal
Chemical Engineering Institute.
He said he believes that in the
next 30 to 40 years, traditional energy, especially coal, will still be the
powerhouse for
China
's
growth. He said clean coal technology research and development should be
prioritized.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-05/04/content_7740745.htm )
May 18 (China Daily) -- When Chen Yaoqing and her
husband go shopping for light bulbs, they get the most energy-efficient ones
they can find.
"The considerable amount of energy you can save just by
changing the bulbs in your home tends to be neglected, largely because people
don't think it's a big deal, or they are not willing to pay a little bit more
for what is already a cheap product," said Chen, a telecommunications
worker in Shanghai.
But Chen says she is making a difference to both the family's energy
bill and the city's air quality by looking for out for more than just the
cheapest price.
"The energy consumption of energy-efficient bulbs is much less
than traditional incandescent lamps. I'll certainly gain ground on my energy
bill in the long run," she said.
Chen is among a rising number of Chinese whose energy awareness and
changing tastes are having a significant impact. A growing emphasis on
functionality rather than cost and appearance is changing the fortune of
low-energy bulbs in the world's most populous nation.
According to Liu Shengping, vice president of China Association of
Lighting Industry (CALI), the number of incandescent lamps in use in
China
was 4.3 billion at the end of last year, but is noticeably on the decrease.
Energy-efficient bulbs, on the other hand, are rapidly closing in, with more
than three billion in use over the same period.
Liu attributed the progress to growing environmental awareness in
China
,
as well as the government's latest efforts to promote more efficient lamps by
offering subsidies of up to 50 percent on retail sales.
The massive subsidy program, which came into effect last April, aims
to usher in 150 million energy-saving bulbs by the end of this year.
About 62 million had already been sold by January this year, saving
3.2 billion kWh of electricity and cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 3.2
million tons and sulfur dioxide emissions by 32,000 tons, according to official
figures.
China
's current bid to stimulate domestic consumption to cushion the
negative impact of the ongoing global economic slowdown could also create more
opportunities for the sector to grow, as energy efficiency is high on the
government's agenda, Liu said.
China
's rapid urbanization also helps its potential for energy-efficient
lighting, said Lin Liangqi, Greater China CEO of Philips Lighting. "One of
the important advantages of China is we have a lot of new buildings which could
switch directly to more efficient forms of lighting, as opposed to Europe and
North America, where the focus is very much on accelerating renovation and
replacement," he said.
"The opportunities for efficient lighting are huge," he
said.
China
's
cities add 15 million new urban citizens a year, and half of the world's
construction will take place in
China
by 2015, according to econet-china, an open network of German companies
coordinated by the German Industry and Commerce to promote Sino-German
cooperation for sustainability.
Energy consumption, in turn, is expected to rise significantly. A
McKinsey Global Institute study reports that by 2025, urban
China
will account for 20 percent
of global energy consumption.
Lighting is responsible for up to 35 percent of the energy bill of a
typical building in
China
,
according to the national statistics bureau.
China
's lighting industry has already changed, said Lin.
Philips' sales revenue from energy efficient lighting in
China
was 1.4 billion yuan last year, which is more than half of total product sales,
he said.
Lin said the trend will continue and Phillips is now becoming more
aggressive in the consumer luminaries market, where a growing number of middle
class Chinese are pushing demand for value-added efficient lighting products.
He said the company has opened five consumer luminaries brand stores
in
Shanghai
, in
which 90 percent of products on the shelves are energy-saving devices.
It is also working actively on expanding its presence in second and
third tier cites, with the goal of doubling its sales of consumer luminaries
each year and opening more than 1,000 brand stores over the next five years.
Lighting will undergo an "absolute revolution," over the
next 10 years, just like the ones seen in the consumer electronics or
information technology industries, according to Rudy Provoost, Executive
Vice-President and CEO of Philips Lighting.
"I can see in lighting, over the next 5 to 10 years, there will
be some dramatic shifts, where complete categories could shift from
incandescent lamps to energy-efficient lighting sources and from traditional
technologies to solid state, or LED (light-emitting diode) lighting," said
Provoost.
LEDs have lower energy consumption, a longer lifetime, are more
robust, are smaller and are easier to switch than traditional size, although
they cost ten times more.
Positioning LED as the next stage of the company's lighting
business, Provoost said he expects there will be more examples of "a mix
of technology" in which LED is used.
He also underscored the importance of government support in the bid
to reduce energy consumption in general by raising green standards.
"It means not only setting aggressive standards that all the
market players must live up to, but also that the authorities reward or
penalize companies who do not live up to these standards," he said.
"It really needs concerted efforts, and the government has an
important role to play," he added.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bw/2009-05/18/content_7785334.htm )
May 21 (China Daily) -- US President Barack
Obama's tough new standards for automobile emissions will raise the barrier for
Chinese vehicles entering the
US
market, but it could benefit
China
's
automobile manufacturing industry in the long run, analysts said.
"Obama's automobile emission deal
enhances the difficulty for Chinese auto manufacturers to export their vehicles
to the
US
market, a highly-matured market Chinese players are dreaming of, as it's even
harder for Chinese vehicles to meet the new and stricter emission
requirements," said Zhong Shi, an independent auto analyst.
However, the barrier will boost Chinese
manufacturers' push to develop greener cars, which is expected to eventually
benefit the domestic industry.
The White House on Tuesday released a
national auto emission requirement for cars and trucks to lower their average
energy consumption to
15 km
per liter with a 30 percent emission reduction target by 2016.
The standard will make
US
drivers pay
an extra $1,300 per vehicle.
Currently, the
US
market is still not an auto export destination for
China
.
Chinese automaker BYD Co, which launched the
world's first commercial dual-mode electric car last December, has said it
plans to start selling cars in the
United States
in 2001.
The Shenzhen-based company could be the
Chinese firm that benefits the most from Obama's emission limits.
Its aggressiveness in developing green cars
has won support from Warren Buffett. MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co, a unit of
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, bought a 9.9 percent stake in BYD for HK$1.8
billion last September amid the financial crisis in the
United States
.
Industry observers have called upon the
Chinese government to increase support to green car development.
"
China
should learn from the
US
experience that we should pay more attention to energy efficiency when
developing our own automobile industry," said Hui Yumei, an analyst with
automobile market research company Sinotrust.
Hui said that
China
should start the extensive
manufacture of energy-efficient vehicles with low-emission as early as
possible. "We are lucky that the Chinese government has realized the
importance of the issue and has begun to take active action."
Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang
said earlier this month that
China
plans to have 60,000 energy-efficient or new energy vehicles across the nation
in 2012, with hybrid-powered automobiles accounting for more than 95 percent of
the total.
The government has approved the manufacture
of ten types of new energy vehicles.
Moreover, the National Development and
Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of
Industry and Information Technology have together with the Ministry of Finance
started the test of new energy vehicles for public transportation in 13 Chinese
cities, in a bid to improve the use of new energy vehicles.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-05/21/content_7913357.htm )
China
auto sales hit new high in April
May 8
(Xinhua) -- Sales of
China's domestically made vehicle set a record high of 1.153 million units in
April, up 25 percent from a year earlier, the China Association of Automobile
Manufacturers (CAAM) said Friday.
This
represents an increase of 3.91 percent from March. In March, sales rose 5
percent year-on-year to 1.11 million units.
Automakers
produced 1.157 million motor vehicles last month, up17.9 percent year-on-year,
according to CAAM. It was 5.61 percent higher than March.
CAAM
said the April figure showed the country's auto industry had seen signs of
recovery as the government's stimulus policies began to have an effect.
The
association said the continuous pick-up in passenger car sales was bolstered by
government stimulus policies.
China
unveiled a support package for the auto industry early this year, cutting
purchase taxes for cars with small engine capacities and providing subsidies to
rural purchasers.
In
the first four months, motor vehicle sales hit 3.832 million units, up 9.4
percent year on year, while a total of 3.725 million units were produced, up
6.4 percent, according to CAAM.
Passenger
car (sedans, SUVs and MPVs) sales in April rose 37.37percent from a year
earlier to 831,000 units. The March figure stood at 772,000 units. While
commercial vehicles (busses, trucks and pick-ups) fell 4.53 percent from March
to 322,100 units in April, but rose 1.38 percent from a year earlier.
Passenger
car sales in the first four months climbed 15.09 percent from a year ago to
about 2.83 million units. Production totaled more than 2.69 million units, up
9.75 percent year on year.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/08/content_11338765.htm )
May 6 (China Daily) -- Chinese carmakers are gearing up to enter the
European market after testing the
US
waters some time back.
Though Chinese carmakers have not made much
headway in the
US
due to the strict emission and safety norms, many have managed to make their
presence felt in the marketplace and are currently reworking their overseas
strategies. The decision to test the European waters is also part of the
strategy by Chinese automobile manufacturers to explore new markets.
The European sojourn now looks more
promising as the demand economics are changing globally to fuel-efficient and
small cars. In the first quarter of 2009 about 3.4 million new cars were sold
in
Western Europe
, 17 percent less than within
the same period last year - and the bigger the cars, the bigger the sales drop.
Leading German automobile expert, Ferdinand
Dudenhoffer from the University of Duisburg-Essen, said Chinese cars would soon
have an important role to play in the European marketplace. "In five
years, the Chinese carmakers can become what the Koreans are today," he
told China Daily.
"In sunrise industries such as electric
and hybrid cars the Chinese automakers will be quicker than their German
competitors would imagine," Dudenhoffer said. He said that
China
would be
"the center of the automobile industry" by 2020. "Nothing can
stop this country."
Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Mercedes Benz, acknowledges
that "
China
,
unlike other economies in the world, is still in the growth mode".
"Cars from
China
could soon become serious market players in
Switzerland
," the Swiss
automobile club TCS said recently after a crash test for Brilliance BS 4 cars.
Brilliance Jinbei has been one of the first
movers in the tough European market. In
Germany
, Brilliance is the only
Chinese brand that has acquired a local distribution certification and started
selling its cars.
Last year Brilliance Jinbei exported 10,115 vehicles,
of which less than 10 percent was to
Europe
.
The major export markets have been Southeast Asia, Africa and
Latin
America
. For 2009, the company is targeting a sales number of
26,000 cars outside
China
.
Hans-Ulrich Sachs, managing director of HSO Motors
Europe, the European general sales agent for Brilliance, expects car sales to
touch 3,000 this year, with bulk of the sales in
Germany
. Sachs is confident that
Brilliance will perform well due to its competitive prices and car design.
"We are also confident as we score well on safety parameters," he
said.
There has, however, been much controversy
about the correct evaluation of Brilliance's BS 4 crash test conducted by
several European automobile clubs. While the automobile clubs from the
Netherlands
,
Austria
and
Switzerland
credited three out of five stars to BS 4's crash performance, their German
counterpart ADAC assigned a crushing zero star.
"Although the BS 4 is considerably
safer than the BS 6 two years ago, the European crash norms have been tightened,"
an ADAC spokesman told China Daily. Car expert Dudenhoffer, said that this
evaluation would make it hard for Brilliance to establish its brand in
Germany
,
where car safety is a major selling point.
"It was an unfair crash test for
Brilliance. We feel regrets over the ADAC result," said Hao Yongxin,
director of overseas sales and marketing with Shenyang Brilliance Jinbei
Automobile Co Ltd.
Brilliance importer HSO also expressed its
concern on the differing test interpretations. "It is hard to shake off
the impression that a card with political dimensions is being played
here," HSO said in an official statement in reply to ADAC's zero star
press release.
Sachs believes that some European automakers
have developed "strong concerns" about Brilliance entering their home
market. Ironically for Sachs the present situation is similar to the one he
faced 17 years back when introducing Hyundai cars from
Korea
in
Europe
.
"Like Hyundai back then, now Brilliance is being taken seriously," he
said.
While Brilliance is trying its luck in
Europe
with upper and middle class cars, Dudenhoffer
reckons that other Chinese carmakers are more likely to pose a threat to the
likes of Volkswagen or Mercedes. He is convinced that the Chinese road to
success will be built upon "small, budget-priced cars with reasonable
security and quality standards". Dudenhoffer regards Geely or FAW as the
more serious contenders in the European market. "Their prospects in the
small car segment are quite bright."
Michael Bnning, sales and marketing director
of BLG Automobile Logistics, HSO's Brilliance business transportation partner,
is convinced that there will also be a niche in the upper class market for
Chinese automakers: "We believe in Brilliance and in their future plans of
selling cars in
Europe
." He added that
his company and HSO are willing to further collaborate with Chinese automakers
to improve the performance in future European crash tests.
The European car market is dominated by
Volkswagen (Volkswagen, Audi), with a 2008 market share of 18.8 percent and
sales of around 3 million units. PSA (Citroen, Peugeot) from
France
and
US
automaker Ford (Ford, Volvo)
achieved market shares of 13.5 percent and 10 percent respectively.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2009-05/06/content_7750499_2.htm )
May
12 (China Daily) –The UK's top car designer, Peter Stevens, sees
China
's
future on the wheels powered by electricity.
Stevens
became one of the world's best-known figures in the industry receiving numerous
honors for creating race cars for companies such as Lamborgini and Lotus.
The
luxury car designer came to
Beijing
as part of
the British Embassy's campaign to introduce
UK
talents to
China
.
Upon
his arrival, Stevens was stunned by the number of electric bicycles on the
streets.
"In
London
you don't see one [electric bike]; in
Paris
you don't see one
[neither]," he said.
Stevens
said Chinese manufacturers have mastered bike design and mass-production of
electric cars could be the next step.
At
the latest
Detroit
car show the Chinese automobile manufacturer BYD Auto displayed its first
plug-in electric car hybrid F3DM.
By
the end of this year, BYD, which produces 65% of the world's nickel-cadmium
batteries, is planning to develop an environmentally-sound pure electric car.
The
National Development and Reform Commission outlined
China
's ambitious plan to become
the world's largest producer of electric cars by 2011, manufacturing up to
500,000 units annually.
To
boost the production of battery-powered vehicles the Chinese government will
contribute up to 80 percent towards the cost, making a Chery electric car,
which normally costs around 70,000 yuan, available for buyers at just 10,000
yuan.
With
this new government scheme the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers
expects car sales in the country to reach up to 10 million this year and
overtake the
United States
.
BYD
Auto already attracted world's most successful investors, including Warrant
Buffet, who according to the Caijing magazine, recently bought 9.89 percent
share of BYD for HK$1.8 billion.
With
such recent developments Stevens believes
China
has the potential to become
the world's largest producer of electric cars in the near future.
But
he said to repair the Chinese car manufacturers' damaged reputation for alleged
copycat deeds, the unique style must be found using the country's cultural
elements in design.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-05/12/content_7769667.htm )
April 20 (China Daily) -- China's
campaign to bring cleaner, low-emission vehicles to its roads may take a back
seat as the government first tries to stimulate growth and counter dwindling
sales in the world's largest car market.
Battery
and car maker BYD Ltd and other Chinese auto manufacturers with
ambitions to be among the first to globally market all-electric vehicles are
pinning their hopes on regulatory support to spur demand.
But creating an
emission-free vehicle market is unlikely to be a priority for
China
. While
China
has made much progress in
setting standards regulating vehicle emissions, it has not gone as far as
providing incentives for individual buyers of the expensive but low-polluting
cars.
"I hope government
subsidies can help boost demand, because this is good technology, though
expensive compared to conventional cars," Henry Li, general manager for
BYD's auto unit, said in an interview at the firm's Shenzhen headquarters.
China
, the fastest growing major market for vehicles, is also the world's
largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Car sales growth in
China
, which overtook the
United States
in January to become
the world's largest auto market, slowed to a single-digit rate in 2008 for the
first time in at least 10 years as consumer confidence waned in a slowing
economy, spurring government steps to bolster demand.
Beijing
unveiled a
raft of policies in January to lure buyers back into showrooms, including
halving the auto purchase tax for cars with engine sizes below 1.6 liters. The
government also scrapped some road fees and offered subsidies for farmers to
boost demand for fuel-efficient vehicles in rural areas.
But given the high cost of
developing hybrid and all-electric cars, automakers require more than the
lifting of road fees and tax breaks to stimulate demand, experts said.
"There should be some
incentives in place to convince consumers to switch to electric cars,"
said Sinling Chung, chief executive officer of Hong Kong-based EuAuto
Technology Ltd, which recently began marketing a China-made microcar in
Europe
.
"There is also the
issue of infrastructure. At some point car owners will need juice points where
they can park and plug in the cars," said Chung in an interview at
EuAuto's Shenzhen plant.
EuAuto plans to sell its
two-door micro cars in
China
within three years, but has turned first to
Europe
,
where subsidies for consumers help drive demand for electric cars.
Hybrid cars
BYD started selling a
plug-in electric hybrid car in December, called the F3 dual-mode or F3DM, which
charges through a conventional home outlet and is supported by a small petrol
engine. BYD, known for its cell phone batteries and its investor, Warren
Buffett, plans to roll out its all-electric car, the e6, later this year. That
could make it the world's first
commercially-distributed electric car.
More established Chinese
carmakers have also been developing hybrid and all-electric cars.
Wuhu-based Chery Automobile
built a hybrid model, the A5, and unveiled a prototype of its pure electric
car, the S
18 in
February, while Shanghai General Motors Ltd, the 50-50 joint venture between
General Motors Corp and SAIC Motor Corp, introduced the Buick LaCrosse
Eco-hybrid in
China
last July.
The expensive cars,
however, have not been flying out of showrooms.
BYD's F3DM sells for about
150,000 yuan, which is 30-40 percent cheaper than
Toyota
's
Prius in
China
but still double the cost of a comparable gasoline-powered car.
Toyota's Prius, with
batteries that store energy from the engine to help power the car, sold 3,465
units from 2006 to
2008 in
China - fewer than expected, according to Daiwai analyst Ricon Xia.
Green car program
China
stepped up its support of green vehicles in January, offering up to
500,000 yuan in subsidies for companies and agencies purchasing electric
vehicles for fleet use.
While the move was seen as
positive for makers of green cars, experts say it will do very little to create
demand unless subsidies are extended to individual car buyers.
"Extending a subsidy
to a mass market will be a powerful incentive, but requires a lot of
money," said JP Morgan analyst Charles Guo.
"There may be some
debate whether this is necessary, so it's unlikely for the program to be
expanded near term," he said.
For now,
Beijing
is more focused on driving
consolidation in its fragmented and overcrowded car industry.
Beijing
is widely
expected to soon issue a detailed plan allowing big state-run companies to take
over smaller rivals.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-04/20/content_7695337.htm )
May 27 (Wall
Street Journal) -- AG said it is exploring
options for teaming up with
China
's BYD Co. on hybrid and electric
vehicles powered by lithium batteries -- highlighting auto makers' efforts to
secure battery supplies for alternative-energy vehicles.
The companies are exploring the possibility that Shenzhen-based BYD
would supply a lithium-ion battery technology it developed for plug-in hybrid
and all-electric battery-powered cars, people familiar with the negotiations
said.
Volkswagen, based in
Wolfsburg
,
Germany
, would
be the first major automotive partner for BYD, which moved into the spotlight
last year when a company controlled by investor Warren Buffett invested $230
million in the Chinese car maker, mainly because of BYD's cost-effective
technology.
BYD -- one of the world's biggest producers of cellphone batteries and a
fledgling, fast-rising auto maker in
China
-- caused a stir in December
by launching a plug-in car ahead of more-established foreign rivals.
"Hybrids and electric vehicles will play an increasingly important
role," Ulrich Hackenberg, VW's executive board member for technical
development, said in a prepared statement. "Particularly for the Chinese
market, potential partners such as BYD could support us in quickly expanding
our activities."
BYD makes plug-in hybrid and electric-battery-powered cars. Above, the
contacts used to recharge a BYD auto.
BYD also is talking to Ford
Motor Co. and another European auto
maker about similar arrangements, the people said. The status of those
negotiations wasn't clear.
"We are always in discussions with many suppliers as a standard
course of our business, but we have nothing to share at this time," said
Whitney Small, a Ford spokeswoman in
Bangkok
.
Concerns over gasoline shortages and climate change have prompted a
global race to commercialize affordable electric-battery cars and plug-in
hybrids that get most of their power from batteries.
A big obstacle is insufficient industry capacity to produce lithium-ion
batteries, which is pushing auto makers like VW to team up with multiple
lithium-ion battery suppliers. Aside from BYD, Volkswagen has signed letters of
intent with Sanyo
Electric Co. and Toshiba Corp., both of
Japan
.
Volkswagen's premium Audi AG brand last year agreed to cooperate with Sanyo on
developing lithium-ion batteries, saying the new technology should be ready for
large-scale production in 2012.
Getty Images
Concerns over gasoline shortages and climate change have prompted a
global race to commercialize affordable electric-battery cars and plug-in
hybrids that get most of their power from batteries.
While lithium-ion batteries are widely seen as the technology that will
ultimately power most plug-in cars, the batteries' use has been hindered by a
relatively high price, limited durability and safety concerns. BYD says it has
largely resolved those issues by turning to a safer, more cost-effective
technology: iron-phosphate-based lithium-ion technology.
Lithium-ion batteries produced in
China
are generally about half the cost of such batteries made in
Japan
and the
West. Costs may rise as Chinese auto makers invest to improve their technology,
however.
Germany
's Daimler AG last week announced it will
buy a 10% stake in
Silicon Valley
electric-vehicle start-up Tesla Motors Inc. for "a sum in the double-digit
millions of euros." Daimler and Tesla already were moving to integrate
Tesla's lithium-ion battery packs and charging electronics into the first 1,000
electric versions of Daimler's tiny Smart two-seater. As part of the closer
relationship, Daimler and Tesla will intensify development of battery systems,
electric-drive systems and individual vehicle projects.
(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124331239762553635.html )
May 27 (China Daily) -- A better
quality of gasoline and diesel that is designed to reduce vehicle emissions
will be supplied to motorists from October as the city prepares for the World
Expo.
The municipal environmental protection bureau said motorists would be
charged more for the new fuel but they did not reveal what the price increase
would be.
It follows an announcement by local government that all new cars, buses
and vehicles used for cleaning and mail services must meet the "national
IV standard" for vehicle emissions - equivalent to the highest European emissions
standard - from Nov 1.
The fuel, which contains five times less sulfur than the current
standard, would reduce emissions by 50 percent for light-duty vehicles and 30
percent for heavy-duty vehicles, the municipal environmental protection bureau
said.
Wu Qizhou, the bureau's director, said the new fuel would reduce the
amount of major pollutants in old vehicles by 10 to 15 percent.
Light-duty diesel powered vehicles and long-distance vans are currently
exempt from the new rules because most cities and provinces outside
Shanghai
are yet to offer
the new fuel.
The fuel initiative is designed to tackle
Shanghai
's air pollution problem as it
prepares to host the World Expo next year.
Bureau statistics showed that about 66 percent of the nitrogen oxide, 90
percent of the volatile organic compounds and 26 percent of particulate matter
in the city's downtown area come from vehicle exhaust.
The national IV standard will be adopted all across
China
by 2011.
Shanghai
is the second Chinese city behind
Beijing
to implement the emissions standard.
In addition, all new motorcycles must comply with the national III
standard from July 1, the bureau said.
Meanwhile,
Shanghai
plans to extend its ban on heavy-polluting vehicles to further cut emissions.
Under the plan, vehicles that do not meet national I emission standards
will no longer be allowed to travel within the Middle Ring Road. Those vehicles
are now banned within the Inner Ring Road area between 7 am and 8 pm.
There are now about 200,000 vehicles that fail to meet the national I
standard, according to Su Guodong, director of the Pollution Control Department
of the bureau. They account for 14 percent of local vehicles but generate 50
percent of vehicular emissions.
Shanghai
is also planning incentives to
encourage motorists to scrape their old cars and buy new ones meeting the
national IV standard. Details about the plan are yet to be finalized by the
city government, officials said.
Official estimates show that if five percent, or 50,000 of those old cars
were traded in, the city would be able to reduce pollutants by eight percent.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-05/27/content_7949188.htm )
May 8
(Xinhua) --
China
's
top economic planner Friday announced details of the country's new oil pricing
mechanism, for the first time after the new pricing system kicked in at the
beginning of this year.
In a
statement on its website, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)
said
China
would adjust domestic fuel prices when global crude prices reported a daily
fluctuation band of more than 4 percent for 22 working days in a row.
The
commission said refiners would enjoy "normal" profit when global
crude prices are below $80 per barrel, but would face narrower profit margins
when the crude prices rise above $80 per barrel.
However,
fuel prices would not go further up, or only be raised by a small margin, when
crude prices rise above $130 per barrel, and fiscal and tax tools would be used
to ensure supplies, the NDRC said.
Light,
sweet crude for June delivery rose 37 cents a barrel to settle at $56.71 on the
New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday after reaching a six-month high of
$58.57.
Crude
prices staged strong rally on news of upbeat economic data in the
United States
,
rising more than 10 percent in two weeks.
The
NDRC statement also came a day after it denied an online report claiming
imminent price hike.
C1
Energy, an energy information website, Thursday reported that the Chinese
government would raise fuel prices as of midnight Thursday, but said later the
price adjustment had been canceled, with reasons unknown.
Xu
Kunlin, deputy head of NDRC's pricing department, said the new oil pricing
mechanism is not to be followed "word by word" without any
flexibility, when asked whether the commission would soon adjust fuel prices at
a press conference held in
Beijing
.
"There
has been pressure to raise domestic fuel prices as crude prices continued to
rise," Xu said, "however, the final decision will depend on
developments in crude prices in coming days."
Friday's
statement did not say how the global crude prices would be measured.
Xu
declined to reveal details on the basket of crude prices for evaluating
international price changes, and said such details would remain a secret in a
bid to prevent speculation.
The
NDRC said in the statement that the government would continue to control fuel
prices at the current stage, because of insufficient market competition and
imperfect market mechanisms.
However,
fuel prices would eventually be determined by market forces only in the long
run under the new pricing mechanism, which is aimed to bring in more market
forces, said the NDRC.
China
's fuel prices, with taxes included, are at a relatively lower level
among major oil importers, said the NDRC.
Domestic
fuel prices are lower than in
Japan
,
the
Republic
of
Korea
,
India
,
Mongolia
, and many European countries, but
higher than in oil exporters in the Middle East and than some cities in the
United States
,
according to surveys by the NDRC.
China
's retail fuel prices vary in different regions. Currently, gasoline
93, the most commonly used type of gas, sells for 5.56 yuan (81.8 cents) per
liter in
Beijing
.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-05/08/content_7759848.htm )
China
's oil processing capacity to increase by 18% by 2011
May
19 (Xinhua) --
China
plans to raise its annual crude oil processing capacity to 405 million tons by
2011, the State Council, or the Cabinet, said on Monday in its restructuring
and stimulus plans for the petrochemical industry.
That
would represent an increase of about 18.4 percent over its processing volume
last year, which topped 342.1 million tons, according to the January figures
from the National Bureau of Statistics.
China
is scheduled to build three to four major oil refining plants in the Yangtze
River Delta in eastern
China
and the Pearl River Delta in southern
China
by 2011. Each plant would be
capable of processing 20 million tons of oil annually, according to plans
published Monday by the General Office of the State Council on its official
website: www.gov.cn.
In
addition to boosting processing capacity, the government wants to make existing
facilities more environmentally friendly.
Oil
producers and refiners were told to improve their product mix and cut
pollutants. The industry's energy intensity will be reduced by more than 12
percent, by 2011, according to the plans. Waste water and sulfur dioxide
discharge will also be cut by more than 6 percent.
In
February, the Cabinet unveiled initial plans to boost the country's
petrochemical industry in a bid to shore up the economy. There was no exact
amount released Monday as to how much funding will be needed for the new plants
and upgrades of older ones.
China
produced 189 million tons of crude oil last year. Net imports of
crude oil totaled 175.16 million tons, the National Energy Administration said
earlier this year.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/18/content_11396891.htm )
May 6 (China Daily) -- CNOOC New Energy Investment
Co Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC),
and Datong Coal Mine Group will invest 30 billion yuan in a coal-to-gas project
in
Datong
,
Shanxi
province.
CNOOC,
China
's top offshore oil and gas
producer, said the investment would go towards building the coal-to-gas plant
with an annual capacity of 4 billion cu m of natural gas, and construction of
supporting projects including two coal mines each with an annual output of 10 million
tons, relevant coal washing mills and coal gangue-fired power plants.
Apart from natural gas, the plant will also
produce diesel, gasoline and other chemical products, the company added.
It is estimated that the coal-based clean
energy project will pull in roughly 26 billion yuan in sales for CNOOC and
Datong
combined.
But, the company has not disclosed a
detailed timetable for the construction and operation of the plant.
The project aims to tap Datong's vast coal
reserves and increase the supply of clean and reliable natural gas to Shanxi
province and the Bohai Bay Rim area, which covers regions such as Shandong,
Liaoning, Hebei and Tianjin, China's engines of growth.
The company said the project would also
boost the energy structure in those regions, as more clean energy would be
supplied.
Zhou Shouwei, vice-general manager of CNOOC,
said the project could be regarded as a large-scale strategic cooperation
between the oil and gas, and coal industries.
Zhou said there was a gap of primary energy
efficiency between
China
and developed countries, and the development of coal-based clean energy was a
very effective way to improve the country's primary energy efficiency.
Coal accounts for over 70 percent of
China
's primary
energy production and consumption. The country's use of the fuel will likely
touch 2.9 billion tons by 2020.
Coal-firing-related emissions constitute 80
percent of
China
's
annual sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions and 70 percent of its carbon dioxide
(CO2) emissions.
As one of the most advanced ways of clean
coal utilization, the coal-to-gas project will also lead to energy savings, and
a clean, highly-efficient and low emission environment.
"The world is going through a financial
crisis, but this is the best time to reform and improve the industrial
structure,"Zhou said.
This project, he said, would be a win-win
deal for both oil and gas enterprises and coal firms.
Nobuo Tanaka, executive head of the
International Energy Agency (IEA), had said earlier that
China
's role in developing new clean coal
technologies was critical as the speed and scale of
China
's expanding coal use has
brought in a new urgency to deploying the full range of clean coal
technologies.
The 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) for Coal
Industry Development in
China
requires that the coal industry strengthen reforms in its industrial structure,
take a sustainable path with high utilization rates, and reduce its
environmental impact.
Premier Wen Jiabao has also asked for rapid
industrialization of clean coal technologies and strengthening comprehensive
utilization of resources, in the government work report speech he delivered at
the opening of the second session of the 11th National People's Congress on
March 4.
In addition, in the Chinese government plan
to revitalize 10 key industries, it has vowed to curb blind development of coal
chemical processing and suspend approval of projects that only aim to expand
production capacity without regard to environmental impact.
Last year, the central government suspended
all coal-to-oil projects. And, two coal-to-fuel projects, which have seen
investments by Shenhua Group,
China
's
largest coal producer, is still in a trial phase.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2009-05/06/content_7746974.htm )
May 10 (Xinhua) –
MOSCOW
-- The
construction of the China-Russia oil pipeline conforms with the strategic goals
of
China
and
Russia
to diversify the former's energy imports and latter's energy exports, Chinese
Ambassador to Russia Liu Guchang has said.
The move reflects the two countries'
confidence and determination to tide over together the current global economic
downturn, Liu said in a recent written interview with Xinhua on Sunday.
The signing of a package of oil cooperation
deals between
China
and
Russia
as well
as the start of the oil pipeline project marked a major breakthrough in their
energy cooperation, represented a new height of China-Russia strategic
partnership of cooperation and further substantiate this partnership, Liu said.
Trade of crude via the pipeline will help
stabilize and enhance the growth in bilateral trade, the diplomat added.
Under the agreement reached between both
countries,
China
and
Russia
will jointly build and operate the
pipeline from
Russia
's
Siberian city of
Skovorodino
to
China
's northeastern city of
Daqing
as its terminal via
China
's
border city of
Mohe
.
The construction of the Russian part of the
pipeline started on April 27, and the Chinese part will be launched in mid-May.
The pipeline, with an annual capacity of 15 million tons of crude to
China
within 20
years, is expected to go into operation in October2010.
The two sides will study the feasibility of
increasing its delivery capacity after the pipeline is put into production, Liu
said. The project will ensure stable and secure oil supplies to
China
, open a
stable and sound market for Russian oil, and boost the cooperation between
enterprises of the two countries in oil exploration and refining, Liu said.
Such a cooperation mode may well serve as a
good example for the two sides to further broaden and deepen their all-round,
long-term and stable energy cooperation in natural gas, nuclear energy and
electric power, Liu said.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/11/content_11358941.htm )
May
21 (China Daily) - China's State-owned oil giants China National Petroleum
Corporation (CNPC) and China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec)
yesterday refuted earlier media reports that they had halted refined oil
wholesaling operations in some areas in China, according to Xinhua News Agency.
The
two companies also claimed that in order to support reconstruction work, they
have adopted measures to ease the refined oil supply shortages in
Chengdu
,
Sichuan
province, caused by strain on railway transportation.
Some
purchasers have stocked up on refined oil because of price hike expectations,
which were viewed as abnormal demands by Sinopec. The company stopped
wholesaling refined oil to these purchasers, while for common buyers,
wholesaling businesses went on as usual, Sinopec said.
Driven
by
China
's
recent economic recovery, domestic refined oil demand rose and resulted in
temporary supply strains, said CNPC. Under such conditions, the company had to
meet demands of its affiliated gas stations and contracted customers as a
priority, and reduced supply to other customers, but never did it suspend
wholesaling operations.
Nevertheless,
the two companies were concerned that refined oil speculation may exacerbate
price hike expectations.
The
National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on May 8 that
China
would
adjust domestic fuel prices when global crude prices reported a daily
fluctuation band of more than 4 percent for 22 working days in a row.
The
government's latest fuel price adjustment raised the benchmark retail price of
gasoline by 290 yuan ($42) per ton,, and diesel by 180 yuan per ton on March
25.
This
came at a time when crude oil for June delivery was about $54 per barrel on the
New York Mercantile Exchange. It has since climbed to over $
60 a
barrel by May 19.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-05/21/content_7921368.htm )
May 14 (China
Daily) -- China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) yesterday said it had signed
an agreement with British natural gas producer BG Group to buy gas from the
latter's liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in
Australia
.
The agreement
calls for CNOOC to purchase 3.6 million tons per annum of LNG for a period of
20 years from the Queensland Curtis LNG project in
Australia
, which is being developed
by the BG Group. The project will come on line in 2014 with 7.4 million tons
per annum in total capacity, CNOOC said in a statement yesterday.
The Beijing-based
CNOOC will also own a 10 percent stake in one of the two LNG production trains
at the planned LNG development, said the statement.
CNOOC and BG
Group will jointly participate in a shipping consortium formed to construct two
LNG ships in
China
that will be owned by the consortium, it said.
"This agreement
will strengthen the power of CNOOC to secure cleaner energy to support
China
's
economic development," said Fu Chengyu, president of CNOOC.
CNOOC is now the
leading company in
China
's
LNG sector. There are four LNG receiving terminals that have been built by
CNOOC in
Guangdong
,
Fujian
,
Zhejiang
provinces and
Shanghai
municipality.
CNOOC will
continue optimizing the energy structure in
China
's coastal areas. It will work
to play an important role in addressing the concerns of environmental
protection and security of energy supply, said the company statement.
LNG is natural
gas chilled to liquid form, reducing it to one by six-hundredth of its original
volume at minus 161 degrees Celsius for transportation by ships to destinations
not connected by pipeline.
CNOOC has now
signed term contracts to buy LNG from
Australia
,
Malaysia
and
Indonesia
for terminals on the Chinese coast.
China
has set a target
of raising the proportion of natural gas in its total energy consumption to 5.3
percent in 2010 from 2.8 percent in 2005, amid efforts to curb pollution.
China
's natural gas
production will be 120 billion cu m in 2011, a three-year plan chalked out by
the National Energy Administration has outlined.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-05/14/content_7775748.htm )
May 20
(Xinhua) -- Petrobras, the national oil company of
Brazil
, announced Tuesday that it
has concluded negotiations with China Development Bank (CDB) for a bilateral
loan of $10 billion.
The
money will be used to finance Petrobras' investment plan, which includes the
procurement of goods and services from
China
, the company said.
The
interest rate of the loan will be below 6.5 percent, said Sergio Gabrielli, CEO
of Petrobras, at a press conference held in
Beijing
Tuesday.
Without
releasing details, the two sides agreed to increase actual crude oil exports
from
Brazil
to
China
.
A
long-term export agreement was also signed Tuesday between Petrobras and UNIPEC
ASIA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation
(Sinopec),
Asia
's largest refiner by output.
It
provides that Petrobras export 150,000 barrels of oil per day to
China
starting
from 2009 and 200,000 barrels of oil per day from 2010 to 2019.
The
price of oil exported to
China
will be decided based on the market, said Gabrielli.
Apart
from the agreement, Petrobras and Sinopec signed a memorandum of understanding
(MOU) under which the two sides would cooperate in several areas such as
exploration, refining, petrochemicals and the supply of related goods and
services, said Petrobras.
Sinopec
announced in February that it has signed a contract with Petrobras to import 3
million to 5 million tons of crude oil from the latter from February 2009 to
January 2010 at market price.
Also
in February, Sinopec and CDB signed an MOU with Petrobras regarding cooperation
in the fields of oil and finance.
According
to the memorandum, the annual trade volume between Sinopec and Petrobras will
be raised from 3 million tons in 2008 to between 10 million to 12.5 million
tons before the end of 2010. Their future oil trading volume will reach 30
million tons.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-05/20/content_7825075.htm )
China
ready to cooperate with US in coping with climate change
May 28 (Xinhua) --
China
will enhance cooperation with the
United States
in coping with climate change, Premier Wen Jiabao said in
Beijing
on Wednesday.
"
China
will cement policy dialogue with the
United States
, take the joint
tackling of climate change as an important aspect of cooperation and push for
positive results in the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference," Wen told US
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her delegation.
The US House delegation started a week-long
China
tour on Sunday at the invitation of Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing
Committee of the top legislature, the National People's Congress.
China
and the
United
States
could cooperate from a long-term
point of view, live in harmony and value their differences while promoting
bilateral ties, Wen said.
The two countries shared a broad common
interest and firm foundation for cooperation in bilateral fields and on the
world stage, Wen told Pelosi at the government compound of Zhongnanhai in
downtown
Beijing
.
"A Sino-US relationship that will be
stable for a long period and develop soundly is conducive for both peoples and
the world at large," Wen said.
Wen briefed Pelosi on
China
's policies, measures and
achievements in coping with climate change.
All countries should, on the basis of the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and the Bali
Roadmap, adhere to the principle of common and differential liability, rely on
science and technology and take real steps to tackle the global challenge, he
said.
A new protocol was expected to be born in
Copenhagen
by the end of
this year to replace the Kyoto Protocol to prevent global warming and climate
change.
Pelosi said she and the
US
lawmakers would exchange views with
China
in a candid and open manner to boost bilateral ties.
The
United
States
appreciated the great achievements
China
had made in its economic development and
its measures to confront climate change and would step up cooperation with
China
,
she noted.
China
is the world's No 2 energy consumer following the
United States
. It has pledged to
improve energy efficiency and boost the clean energy sector so as to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions.
In a position paper on the Copenhagen
Conference,
China
urged the developed nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by
2020 compared with 1990.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/27/content_11446065.htm )
China
plans to address climate change
May 20 (China.org.cn) -- A senior Chinese
official told Xinhua Tuesday that the country is working on a national plan to
further cope with the issue of climate change.
"We are working on a further national
plan based on a longer term in a bid to strengthen the enforcement of
international treaties about the issue," said Xie Zhenhua, deputy director
of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
The plan is aimed to better tackle the
climate change and boost economic growth in the meantime, Xie added.
The Chinese chief climate negotiator did not
elaborate the plan, only saying that the country eyes on accumulating useful
experiences to establish a low-carbon economy through some pilot projects.
In 2007, a national leading group on climate
change, headed by Premier Wen Jiabao, was set up to oversee the issues related
to climate change.
In the same year, the Chinese government
issued the National Climate Change Program, the first of its kind issued by a
developing country, which worked out the strategies and measures to tackle
climate change.
China
's
"green" determination has been boosted by the country's achievements
in its environmental initiatives. Figures show
China
's energy consumption per unit
of GDP dropped 4.59 percent in2008, and 10.08 percent from 2006 to 2008.
Last year chemical oxygen demand (COD), a
main index of water pollution, went down 4.42 percent. And the total emission
of sulfur dioxide, a main air pollutant, dropped 5.95 percent. The emission of
the two chemicals declined 6.61 percent and 8.95 percent respectively in the
past three years, according to the statistics from the National Development and
Reform Commission (NDRC),
China
's
top economic planning agency.
"The Chinese government has actively
participated in international talks on climate change and we have presented our
own proposals on nearly every relevant issue," said Xie.
Combating the climate change cannot be slowed
by the global financial crisis, he added.
However, he noted that expectations put on
China by the international community should be "fair and reasonable",
citing the fact that China's current average per capita greenhouse gas emission
volume is only a third of that in developed countries.
China
will try to reduce emissions while making efforts to eliminate poverty and
improve its citizens' livelihood, and not to follow the developed countries' traditional
development model based on high-emission and high-pollution, Xie stressed.
Talking about the upcoming China-European
Union (EU)
Summit
,
Xie expressed his confidence in bilateral cooperation to address the issue of
climate change.
"
China
and the EU share great potential to cooperate in the issue", Xie said,
noting that
China
values its cooperation with the European Union and is willing to coordinate
with the European Union on new policies and projects about global actions
against climate change.
(http://www.china.org.cn/government/central_government/2009-05/20/content_17803063.htm )
China
urges developed nations to cut emissions by 40% by 2020
May 21 (Xinhua) --
BEIJING
--
China
on Thursday called for the developed nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
by 40 percent by 2020.
"As a medium-range target for 2020,
developed nations should collectively cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 40
percent from 1990," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told a
regular briefing.
Ma had been asked to convey
China
's position on the UN climate change
conference in
Copenhagen
in December.
Ma said
China
had recently issued a position paper, "Implementing the Bali Roadmap,
China
's
position on the Copenhagen Conference," which was available at
www.sdpc.gov.cn., the website of the National Development and Reform
Commission, the country's top economic planning body.
Ma said the paper illustrated
China
's
proposals on implementing the Bali Roadmap and the country's will to work for a
positive outcome from the Copenhagen Conference, which will attempt to
formulate a post-Kyoto deal on climate change.
"The paper says the objective of the
conference is to fully, effectively and continuously implement the the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol," Ma said.
Ma said the paper stressed that the
Copenhagen conference should adhere to the principles of "common but
differentiated responsibilities" and sustainable development, and take
measures to alleviate, adapt to the climate change and provide technology and
financial support to countries in need.
"
China
will, as always, firmly
follow the path of sustainable development and make unremitting efforts to deal
with the global climate change,"Ma said.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/21/content_11414275.htm )
May 5 (China Daily) -- The creation of a
"low carbon" economy that will provide jobs and clean up industry is
now a crucial policy objective for countries trying to spend their way out of
the world economic downturn. A recent report by HSBC calculates that the
United States
is allocating 12 per cent of its
fiscal stimulus to the green economy and
China
, 34 per cent.
There is a compelling scientific, economic
and strategic case for low carbon development and the first movers have a lot
to gain with worldwide investment in renewable energy having grown by 65 per
cent a year since 2004, and projected to reach $600 billion a year by 2020.
China
's
11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) includes a target to reduce energy intensity by
20 per cent during that period. This would translate to a saving of emissions
around four times greater than the European Union's current commitment under
the Kyoto Protocol.
But despite these ambitious objectives
China
's total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are
already on par with those of the
US
and rising fast. This is clearly
driven by the imperative of economic growth for
China
's 1.3 billion people.
China
thus
faces a qualitatively different challenge to the one that faced by
industrializing nations in the past: of combining rapid industrialization,
urbanization and poverty reduction with the transition to a low carbon economy.
No country has ever done this before, but the
Chinese appreciate that carrying out the work of energy conservation and
emission reduction and coping with climate change is a requirement of the
Scientific Development Concept.
In response to the challenge of achieving a
low carbon economy in
China
,
a number of research institutes working with Chatham House in
London
have developed the concept of low
carbon zones (LCZs). These will aim to stimulate transformational regional
political leadership in a similar fashion to the special economic zones (SEZs)
in the early 1980s, which gave certain regions the power to introduce more
liberal economic regulations than the rest of the country, with some
spectacular results.
Under the LCZ scheme, designated regions
could be granted similar powers to experiment with a low carbon policy. To
qualify for the LCZ status, regional leaders would have to commit to low carbon
standards beyond the existing benchmarks at the national level.
These LCZs could then attract hi-tech foreign
direct investment through measures such as strong patent protection, tax
incentives and targeted recruitment of skilled workers. They could attract new
types of carbon finance, too, by building the institutional capacity required
to support local emissions trading schemes, drawing on international experience
and underpinned by strong monitoring and reporting systems.
Furthermore, allowing them to pilot
harmonization of standards with
Europe
in key
low carbon sectors such as vehicle emissions, energy using products and
construction would help facilitate Chinese exports and enhance trade and
investment flows in the LCZs.
A second variant of the LCZ can be found in
the
UK
,
where there are similar proposals but on a smaller scale and mainly in the
context of local rather than regional government. Cities are massive producers
of carbon dioxide not just from traffic, but also from more energy use in
buildings. So it is not surprising to hear calls to introduce a rolling program
of LCZs aimed at dramatically improving the energy efficiency of all buildings
-- public and commercial premises and especially houses.
Here a precedent exists in the smokeless
zones of the 1950s, which reduced pollution arising from the use of coal after
the smog of 1952 killed 4,000 people in
London
.
These LCZs could be rolled out across the country incrementally, with local
authorities declaring an area to be an LCZ. Private sector partners would then
be invited to deliver the actual service.
These partners would assess each building or
house for energy efficiency and design and implement individual energy saving
regimes. Within a specified time, it would become mandatory for all properties
in the zone to reach the minimum ratings of energy efficiency.
A range of technologies and measures is
available to ensure that energy efficiency addresses the whole property, and
many of the measures will pay for themselves through lower bills. Focusing the
zones on neighborhoods has great advantages because there are economies to be
made from concentrating on defined areas and scope -- for example, by
introducing combined heat and power plants. This second form of LCZ was
proposed by the last administration at
London
's
City Hall by the then deputy mayor.
Designing and implementing effective policies
to drive the transition to a low carbon economy and share the costs equitably
is a major political challenge for governments across the world. As we pursue
the low carbon route to future economic development, LCZs both in their Chinese
and
UK
variants offer an important means of dealing with the challenges ahead.
The
author Murad Qureshi AM is deputy chair of
UK
's Environment Committee.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2009-05/05/content_7742713.htm )
China
stance on climate talks firm
May 15 (
China
daily) -- China will remain
firm in its call for developed nations to cut emissions and for other nations
to receive funding as the world attempts to formulate a post-Kyoto deal on
climate change.
A climate change official said yesterday that
China
's long-held position
had been detailed in a document that will be sent to the United Nations ahead
of the Climate Change Conference in
Copenhagen
in December.
The submission will be released to the public
in two weeks.
Li Gao, a division director of the Climate
Change Department of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said:
"Together with each country's document, we submit ours to the UN to
facilitate the negotiations before a global climate change deal is
sealed."
Once the UN receives submissions from
China
and other
countries involved in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change, it will map out a draft deal.
While the exact details of
China
's
document are unknown, the government has often said it wants developed nations
to cut emissions by up to 40 percent.
It has also said that
China
, as a
developing nation, would give an undertaking to improve energy efficiency and
that less developed nations should receive financial assistance to combat
climate change.
The first round of climate change
negotiations took place in
Bonn
,
Germany
, last
month. There will be four more UN sessions before the
Copenhagen
conference.
"No matter what happens on the road to
Copenhagen
, our stance
and principles are long-held," Li said. "We are active both in global
talks and taking action in curbing emission."
The Chinese government has said it would
avoid promising a cut in greenhouse gases during the 2013-2020 period.
Instead,
China
will consider setting a goal
to improve energy efficiency by 2020, which decreases greenhouse gas emission,
a source close to Li's commission said.
"I was told that between 2011-20,
China
will probably promise to achieve the same energy-saving target as it is doing
during the 2006-10 period," a source invited to an NDRC internal meeting,
said.
China
is
in the process of cutting energy consumption by 4 percent per unit of GDP every
year between 2006 and 2010.
"We will urge the developed countries to
take more concrete measures and set clear targets on emission cuts," Li
said.
In a previous report, another NDRC official
said developed nations must commit to cutting emissions by 25-40 percent by
2020 as well as ramp up funding for developing countries.
Li said
China
would also propose to
establish a specific financing mechanism for the transfer of green energy
technology and funding for climate change adaptation for poorer nations.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-05/15/content_7779948.htm )
UK
,
China
launch climate change
campaign
April 7 (Xinhua) Officials from
China
and the
UK
signed a Memorandum of
Understanding on Monday committing the two countries to raising public
awareness about climate change.
The two year program, known as “Climate
Cool”, is jointly sponsored by the China Science and
Technology
Exchange
Center
and the British
Council. It will use the enthusiasm of young people to educate the public about
climate change.
At the launch ceremony, UK Climate Change and
Energy Minister Mr. Ed Miliband told China.org.cn: “We need to raise people’s
awareness about the threat of climate change. It [the Climate Cool program] is
a very important initiative to educate young people to work together to combat
climate change.”
Miliband sees
China
as a potential climate-fighting pioneer with its own solutions and said he hoped
China
would set voluntary targets to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions.
“
China
, as an emerging great power,
has the ability not only to act but to lead, and to exert great influence and
energize others around the world,” he said.
The British Council said the Climate Cool
program will provide training on climate change to 1800 high school teachers
and 200,000 students, as well as 1650 journalists and journalism students.
The program will encourage participants to
inform their peers, their local communities and wider audiences of the issues
surrounding climate change. According to the British Council officials, in
total, the Climate Cool program hopes to reach 55 million people in 20 Chinese
cities with information about climate change.
The program will advocate sustainable
adaptation and mitigation actions and address climate change issues through the
active engagement of young people.
Five Chinese and two British Climate Change
Young Ambassadors took part in the launch ceremony.
Jessica Amy Smith from
Southport
said: “The best way to spread climate change awareness is to educate people. I
think we can make a difference. We need to let people know what climate change
is and what they are up against.”
Ding Shanshan, a 19-year-old girl from
Beijing
, said the
campaign would encourage people to share ideas on environmental protection.
“People really can do something in their
daily lives to protect the environment and fight climate change,” she said.
The Climate Cool initiative was developed in
cooperation with the China Science and
Technology
Exchange
Center
under the Ministry
of Science and Technology, and the Center for Environment Education and
Communication under the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the China
Metrological Administration.
Monday’s Memorandum of Understanding was
signed by Sun Hong, director general of China Science and
Technology
Exchange
Center
,
and Joanna Burke, director of the British Council in
China
.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/07/content_11144957.htm )
May 23 (Xinhua) -- Wang Zhenfeng felt
aggrieved when he was told about overseas media reports claiming that several
new cement plants were under construction in his town, Sanhe, a medium-sized
city not far from
Beijing
.
In April, the New York Times reported that
new cement plants were being built in Duanjialing, a small town under the
jurisdiction of Sanhe, which it said indicated that China had "at least
temporarily backpedaled on some environmental restraints imposed" to
revive its industrial production.
A picture accompanied the story, with a
caption saying that it showed a "worker loading bags" at "one of
the new cement plants."
As vice director of the city's environmental
protection bureau, Wang said the picture puzzled him.
"No new cement plants are under
construction in Sanhe at all. Actually, we have been shutting down cement
factories," he told Xinhua last week.
"There is no such new plant, either in
Duanjialing or the city proper of Sanhe," he stressed.
The government of Sanhe plans a permanent
shutdown of 19 of the city's 20 cement production lines by the end of 2010.
Those plants used traditional and more polluting shaft kilns, Wang said. The
only cement factory that will remain open uses rotary kilns, which cause less
pollution.
Of the 19 shaft kiln plants, nine were forced
to close last year, he said. "The picture might show a plant that had not
been shut down" yet, Wang said.
According to Wang, after the plants are all
closed, sulphur dioxide emissions will be cut by 1,100 tons per year.
Worries over Sanhe's "new cement
projects" are just a reflection of the world's concerns about
China
's
environment. At least some of these worries spring from the impact of
China
's massive
stimulus package, intended to ensure 8-percent economic growth.
The country's 4-trillion yuan ($586 billion)
package, unveiled late last year to help the world's third-largest economy
during the global downturn, gave rise to worries that the government might
sacrifice its environment to boost the economy.
Overseas media organizations have reported
that
China
had approved more new polluting projects, as most of its investment had or
would go to the real economy, such as infrastructure projects, rather than into
the financial sector.
Bloomberg said in a March report that
China
might be
letting its "green goals" fall by the wayside as it trimmed spending
on energy-saving and emission-reduction projects in the massive stimulus
package, citing environmental groups.
There have also been overseas media reports
that
China
might have eased its grip on environmental reviews of new projects, as the
government was taking less time to examine and approve projects.
According to Bloomberg, the Ministry of
Environmental Protection had announced that it would reduce the time needed for
environmental-impact assessments of projects to two days from five, which was
taken as a "worrying sign."
China
's "government has squandered a chance to use the downturn to
put
China
on a cleaner growth path, and has instead laid the foundation for another toxic
cycle of hypergrowth," New York Times said, citing the views of
environmentalists.
Firm path to green economy
But many officials argue that
China
has
actually taken the downturn as an opportunity to restructure its industries and
benefit the environment.
Zhang Lijun, vice minister of the Ministry of
Environmental Protection, said during the country's top legislative and
advisory meetings in March that China's measures to tackle the crisis were not
only about ensuring 8-percent growth.
They were also intended to promote domestic
consumption and economic restructuring, including eliminating polluting,
inefficient and wasteful factories, he said.
When
China
set guidelines for its
stimulus plan in November, the government had made it clear that not all the
investment would go into projects that would worsen the problems of
overcapacity, high energy use and high emissions levels.
Instead, of the 230 billion yuan central
government spending that had already been distributed, 10 percent had been
directly invested in energy saving, pollution reduction and environmental
protection projects, said Han Yongwen, secretary-general of the National Development
and Reform Committee (NDRC), during an exclusive interview with Xinhua in late
April. The NDRC is
China
's
top planning agency.
"The stimulus plan did not delay
China
's process
of energy conservation and emission reduction. Actually, it was strengthened
with the package," Zhao Jiarong, director of the environment and resource
department of the NDRC, told Xinhua during an interview early this month.
Meanwhile,
China
had also emphasized
eliminating obsolete capacity as part of its support plans for 10 major
industries released over the past few months. Those industries included
textiles, non-ferrous metals and petrochemicals.
In 2009 alone,
China
plans to shut down 15 million
kilowatts of small thermal-power generators and eliminate obsolete capacity in
iron, steel and paper production this year by 10 million tonnes, 6 million tons
and 500,000 tons, respectively, said the NDRC earlier this month.
As a result,
China
's energy intensity witnessed
a year-on-year drop of 2.89 percent in the first quarter, according to the
NDRC.
For
Beijing
,
despite the annual sandstorm season, the city saw 23 "blue sky" days
in April, the best figure for that month since 2000, according to Beijing
Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau. On a "blue sky" day, air
quality stays at or above level 2, indicating "fairly good" air.
(http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5370EY20090408 )
