OPINION> Commentary
A wake-up call
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-03 07:37

The warning on too fast growth of energy-consuming industries that the State Council gave on Tuesday should galvanize the country into immediate and intensified efforts to save energy and reduce pollutant discharge.

With the passage of the first half of 2008, China now formally enters into the second half of its five-year drive to cut energy intensity by 20 percent and pollution emission by 10 percent between 2006 and 2010.

Such a national campaign of energy conservation and environmental protection will largely determine if China can successfully shift away from energy-and-resources-intensive growth toward sustainable development.

However, there are tougher battles ahead after two years of failure to meet the annual goal to cut energy intensity by 4 percent. To realize the five-year target, it is estimated that the country needs to bring down energy intensity by 5 percent annually in the next three years.

For a developing country like China that is undergoing rapid industrialization, it is not easy to raise energy efficiency and improve pollution control without causing many economic pains.

For instance, the country will close small thermal power plants with a generation capacity of 13 million kilowatts this year to raise the overall energy efficiency of the power sector. That involves not only a huge sum of investment but also the loss of many jobs.

Even in the year of robust economic growth, local governments need to sharpen their political resolve to press ahead with these changes that put long-term gain of energy efficiency over immediate economic concerns.

But the country's industry structure remained unchanged while the proportion of the service sector and high-tech manufacturing were falling in the national economy. The fact indicates that many local officials have not worked hard enough to promote energy conservation.

Worse, a US-led global slowdown that weakened China's export growth and a number of severe natural disasters that disrupted domestic production in the first half of this year have only made it more difficult for local governments to focus on saving energy and reducing pollution.

Though half-year statistics on GDP and energy consumption are not available yet, policymakers may have already found straws in the wind. The warning against excessive growth of industries with high energy consumption and pollution is clearly a clarion call to inspire a sense of urgency.

(China Daily 07/03/2008 page8)