| Energy use drops but still misses national 4% target |
SHANGHAI, Mar. 1 -- Although China's energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product fell 1.23 percent last year, the first drop since 2003, it still missed a national target, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics yesterday.
Energy use fell to 1.21 metric tons of coal equivalent to produce each 10,000 yuan (US$1,290) of GDP, according to the bureau.
The government originally targeted a cut of four percent in 2006, as part of a five-year plan to reduce energy use per GDP by 20 percent by 2010. But a rise of 0.8 percent in the first half of last year, spurred by rapid industrial expansion, put in doubt whether the full-year and five-year goal could be reached.
Still, the full-year 1.23 percent decline marks the first annual drop since 2003.
"The drop shows our effort in energy conservation has started to take hold," said Zhou Dadi, a researcher at the energy research department under the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top planning agency.
"But failure in meeting the four percent goal also indicates an energy-intensive industrial expansion," Xinhua news agency quoted Zhou as saying.
Government officials have threatened stricter measures to optimize China's energy use and ensure a four percent cut in energy consumption per unit of GDP this year.
An official from the planning agency has told Shanghai Daily that, given the current figures, it could be quite difficult to reach the target of a five-year 20 percent cut, which global organizations including the World Bank have also described as ambitious.
China's energy consumption totaled 2.46 billion tons of coal equivalent in 2006, a rise of 9.3 percent from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said.
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