GE pushes 'green' business By Liu Baijia (China Daily) Updated: 2006-05-30 09:04
General Electric brought its environmental programme to China yesterday, a
major initiative to help the US conglomerate double its business in the world's
fastest-growing major economy.
Jeff Immelt, chairman and CEO of the US
giant, signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Development and
Reform Commission (NDRC) to provide environmentally-friendly technology to China
and formally kicked off the company's Ecomagination programme in the
country.
"Today signifies the interface of two major internal themes at
GE: Commitment to China and Ecomagination," said Immelt at the launching
ceremony yesterday in Beijing.
China has become a significant emerging
market for the world's largest industrial giant as its sales in China reached
the previous goal set by Immelt to grow revenue in China to US$5 billion in
2005, almost twice the 2003 figure.
He said he expected the business to
enjoy sustained growth in China in the next five years and to double again in
that period.
GE's Ecomagination plan ties in with China's emphasis on
energy efficiency and requirements for environmentally friendly
solutions.
The company launched Ecomagination last May, aiming to achieve
annual sales of US$20 billion in 2010 from environmentally friendly products and
solutions.
But the figures released two weeks ago showed that sales from
its Ecomagination products have already reached US$10.1 billion in 2005, up from
US$6.2 billion in 2004.
Steve Bertamini, chairman and CEO of GE China,
said his operations also received several hundred million dollars in revenue
from Ecomagination products last year.
At the same time, China put energy
efficiency on the top of its agenda, setting a goal to cut energy consumption
per unit of gross domestic product in 2010 by 20 per cent from the end of
2005.
Zhang Guobao, vice-minister of NDRC, welcomed the efforts to help
China's energy efficiency and environmental protection.
According to the
memorandum between NDRC and GE, the US giant will provide technology such as
coal gasification, wind energy solutions, regional jet development, advanced
locomotive development, desalination, and energy-efficient lights.
Last
October, GE signed a contract with the Ministry of Railway to provide 300 rail
cars worth US$450 million, which cut gas exhaustion by 28 per cent.
The
US behemoth also signed a memorandum of understanding with Tsinghua University
yesterday to jointly develop clean technology to take advantage of the
university's strength in developing green energy solutions and GE's experience
in learning customers' demands and the local market
environment. (For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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