China Makes Slim Progress on Energy Savings – Adviser

China has made little headway saving energy, reducing pollution and curbing investment as the government strives to create a more sustainable model of economic growth, a prominent expert said in remarks published on Monday.

China fell short of its environment-related targets last year, said Yu Yongding, a former central bank adviser, after it failed to reduce energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 4 percent and pollution discharges by 2 percent.
Those targets were part of a broader plan to slash energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent and the discharge of major pollutants by 10 percent by 2010, the end of the country’s current five-year plan.

“We have seen no notable improvement in China’s problems, including overly rapid growth in fixed-asset investment, excessive consumption of energy and severe environmental pollution,” the overseas edition of the People’s Daily quoted Yu as saying.

“Rather, the situation in some sectors has tended to deteriorate,” he said.

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