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China to double spending on environmental actions

China has announced plans to double spending on improving energy efficiency and slashing pollution in an effort to combat its dismal environmental record.

The government will spend an extra 10 billion yuan (US$1.33 billion) on reducing energy use and cutting pollution, a statement from the National Development and Reform Commission said.

The move brings the annual total investment in the area to 21.3 billion yuan.

Of the total, 9 billion yuan will be spent on energy efficiency and will target 10 "major energy saving projects," the statement said without giving details.

The state Xinhua news agency said late on Friday that the money would focus on making energy savings within government bodies, as well as pushing for more efficient use of oil and developing oil-replacement technologies.

China's booming economy -- which last year grew at 11.1 percent -- has come at a huge cost to the environment with up to 70 percent of its waterways polluted and air quality in its cities among the worst in the world.

The Chinese government had set a goal of reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent by 2010. However, energy consumption fell only 1.2 percent last year -- less than one-third of the government's stated annual goal.

China also missed last year's targets to reduce by 2 percent emissions of major air and water pollutants, as levels instead rose by almost 2 percent.

Government figures cited by Xinhua on Friday said better results had been achieved between January and May this year with energy consumption falling by 2 percent compared with the same period last year.
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