China to revise Energy-Saving Law

While the legislators' second reading on the draft amendment to the Law on Energy Saving, a major proposed amendment is to put energy conservation as one of the performance criteria for local government officials.

China aims to cut energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent by the the end of 2010. Many legislators believe a revised law will help the government to achieve the target.

Member of NPC Standing Committee Yang Xingfu said, "In the past, local government officials were only appraised on the local GDP growth rate. So the high local GDP growth rates were usually accompanied by heavy pollution and over-consumption of energy. The proposed amendment to the law link energy-saving with local officials' performance evaluations. This will help promote energy conservation nationwide."

Other legislators proposed that the law should have stipulations on the use of large energy-consuming equipment. Equipment, such as boilers, consume a huge amount of coal each year.

He Keng, member of NPC Standing Committee, said, "I think it's necessary to incorporate energy-saving requirements on high energy-consuming equipment into law. There's a huge potential to cut energy consumption from the use of such equipment."

Other proposed amendments include higher standards of energy saving on construction projects and the transportation sector. The amended law also highlights energy saving obligations of government institutions.

Energy conservation and pollution reduction are tough challenges that China faces. A stricter and more effective law will pave the way for the country to meet its five-year target for cutting energy consumption. It will also likely have far-reaching influence on achieving the country's sustainable development over the long term.