From Reuters:
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is likely to give priority to meeting energy saving targets at the annual session of parliament which opens next week, after the country failed to meet last year’s goals.
China cut its energy per unit of gross domestic product, or energy intensity, by 1.23 percent last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday, reversing a rise in intensity in the first half but falling short of its 4 percent target.
The figure also leaves China, the world’s second-largest energy user, far off an ambitious goal of a 20 percent reduction by 2010, a key figure highlighted by Wen at last year’s session of parliament, along with a 10 percent cut in major pollutants.[Full Text]
