Full text: Report on China's economic, social development plan

4. Significant progress was made in energy conservation and environmental protection and in responding to climate change.

We basically met the targets for energy conservation and emissions reductions. In 2010, investment funds from the central government budget for this purpose came to 33.3 billion yuan, an increase of 140% over the previous year; and the central government provided 51.8 billion yuan in special funding for conserving energy and reducing emissions, up 73%. We actively carried out the ten major energy conservation projects, capable of generating energy savings equivalent to 33.1 million tons of standard coal. We worked hard to implement the project to promote energy-efficient products for the benefit of the people, and nearly 30 million high-efficiency air-conditioners, over 1 million energy-efficient motor vehicles, and 160 million energy-saving light bulbs were put into use. We started to implement the pilot project to demonstrate and popularize new energy vehicles. We actively developed national demonstration bases for recovering mineral resources from city waste. We supported the construction of urban sewage and garbage treatment facilities. For the whole year, daily urban sewage treatment capacity increased by 19 million cubic meters and daily urban household waste disposal capacity grew by 68,000 tons; and 76.9% of urban sewage was treated and 72.5% of urban household waste was safely handled, an increase of 1.6 and 1.2 percentage points year on year respectively. In 2010, energy consumption per unit of GDP fell 4.01%; sulfur dioxide emissions and chemical oxygen demand dropped 1.32% and 3.08% respectively; water consumption per 10,000 yuan of value-added of industry fell 9.6%; and the percentage of industrial solid waste that was comprehensively utilized rose by 2 percentage points. Over the past five years, energy consumption per unit of GDP fell 19.06%, sulfur dioxide emissions and chemical oxygen demand decreased 14.29% and 12.45% respectively, water consumption per 10,000 yuan of value-added of industry decreased 36.7%, and the targets set in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan were either basically met or exceeded.

(Figure 7: Energy Consumption per Unit of GDP in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period)

(Figure 8: Sulfur Dioxide Emissions and Chemical Oxygen Demand in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period)

New steps were taken in ecological and environmental protection. We further consolidated progress previously made in returning cultivated land to forests and grazing land to grasslands; completed the first phase of the project to protect virgin forests; completely stopped commercial logging in natural forests in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River; and protected and restored biodiversity. In 2010, an additional 5.92 million hectares of land was afforested, 6.667 million hectares of grazing land was returned to grasslands, and soil erosion on 42,000 square kilometers of land was brought under control through combined measures nationwide. We promulgated and implemented a comprehensive national plan for water resources. We vigorously carried out pollution control in the key watersheds of the Huai, Hai, Liao and Songhua rivers; the Tai, Chao and Dianchi lakes; the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River; the Three Gorges Reservoir area and its upper reaches; the Bohai Sea; and the Danjiangkou Reservoir area and its upper reaches. We fully implemented the master plan for the comprehensive cleanup of the water in the Tai Lake basin.

(Figure 9: Area Afforested in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period)

The work of responding to climate change was further strengthened. We effectively implemented China's National Climate Change Program, actively made innovations in low-carbon technology, and smoothly carried out pilot projects for low-carbon provinces and low-carbon cities. We successfully held the Tianjin United Nations Climate Change Conference, and actively engaged and participated in international exchanges and cooperation in all areas.