China likely to miss 2004-2020 energy-saving target

China will probably miss its 2004-2020 energy-saving target because local governments have set higher-than-expected energy consumption limits in order to boost their own economies, a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner, had set a target for gross domestic product in 2020 of four times that in 2000, but using only twice as much energy.
However, the target had been called unrealistic in the report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences because of the planning done by local governments.

The five-year blueprints filed by provinces and municipalities show that by 2010 or earlier, the overall target will be unreachable.

If the figures outlined in these blueprints are added up, the overall energy consumption will reach the equivalent of 2.98 billion tons of coal by 2010, more than twice the 1.3 billion tons for 2000, a figure which the commission had wanted to reach only by 2020. By contrast, the total of local projected GDP for 2010 is RMB 29 trillion, less than three times that of 2000.

China Knowledge