In a drive to promote sustainable growth China yesterday published a list of
coal and electricity consumption for every province, autonomous region and
municipality except Tibet on the mainland.
The list, compiled by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC),
the National Bureau of Statistics and the National Energy Leading Group Office,
measures how much energy was consumed per 10,000 yuan (US$1,250) of GDP in 2005.
It also includes energy consumption figures for every 10,000 yuan of
industrial added value.
Guangdong was the most economical province, using 0.79 tons of standard coal
last year for every 10,000 yuan of GDP. Beijing, with 0.8 tons of standard coal
consumption, ranked second.
The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in Northwest China was the most inefficient
in energy use, consuming of 4.14 tons of standard coal.
The national average was 1.22 tons.
"The list will help provincial officials compare themselves with other
regions, and push them to improve efficiency," said Zhou Dadi, director general
of the Energy Research Institute of the NDRC, the nation's top economic planning
body.
"Officials will be assessed in terms of energy saved, instead of just GDP
growth rate which they were measured on in the past," said Zhou.
"Energy efficiency will take top priority in the promotion of officials."
As for Ningxia's poor performance in energy saving, Zhou explained that the
region's economic growth was highly dependant on heavy industries such as
producing metals.
China's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) calls for overall consumption of energy
per unit of GDP to be cut by 20 per cent in five years.
The current energy consumption per unit of GDP in China is about three times
that of the United States and 10 times that of Japan, according to Zhang Jianyu,
a visiting scholar at Tsinghua University.
