Editorials

Green temptation

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-17 06:36

The report on energy consumption that the statistical and energy authorities issued jointly Thursday showed the economy was much greener than previously thought.

Such a greener-than-expected picture must appear too good to be true to Chinese policymakers who are racing desperately against time to meet the country's five-year energy-saving goal.

As one of the world's largest energy consumers, China has vowed to reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010).

Previous figures showed that by the end of 2009 the country's energy consumption per unit of GDP had fallen by only 14.38 percent from the 2005 level.

Worse, earlier reports indicated that the country's energy conservation had gone into reverse. In the first quarter of this year, the country's energy intensity rose 3.2 percent year-on-year because of the rapid growth of six energy intensive sectors. That was a setback to China's efforts to meet the five-year goal of cutting energy intensity.

But thanks to the latest upward readjustments of growth figures that confirm China's economy is much bigger than previously reported the country suddenly found it had already cut its energy intensity by more than 16 percent by the end of 2009.

Such a surprisingly good news will give a much needed shot in the arm to those who advocate an ever greening Chinese economy no matter how difficult it is to realize.

But it makes no case for complacence, for energy conservation may prove more difficult this year than the past four years. Hence, the windfall in energy efficiency should only serve as a call for greater efforts and enthusiasm to make the economy as green as possible.

(China Daily 07/17/2010 page5)