Seems turning down the night lights on the Bund may not have done as much to reduce China’s energy consumption as thought. Via China Environmental News Digest:
China last year missed its goals of making a 4 percent cut in the amount of energy it uses to generate each dollar of national income and of reducing emissions of major pollutants, a top official said on Wednesday.
The failure to curb the country’s appetite for energy will be a blow to top officials, who backed the challenging goal with a raft of new policies including tying civil servants’ career prospects to their energy saving achievements. “2006 has been the most grim year for China’s environmental situation,” vice minister Pan Yue was quoted saying on the Web site of the State Environmental Protection Administration (www.sepa.gov.cn).
…Only Beijing and five other regions, out of the country’s 31 provinces and self-governing cities, managed to meet the state-set goals, the official China Daily reported, without citing a source or naming the other success stories. [Full Text]
