03-11-04

China and the European Commission of European Union jointly unveiled a 42.9 mm-euro energy and environment program was introduced in Beijing to improve China's energy efficiency.
The five-year EU-China Energy and Environment Program is jointly launched by the Chinese State Development and Reform Commission and the Delegation of the European Commission of European Union, involving projects on energy saving, development of renewable energy and natural gas.

China ranks the second in energy consumption in the world, and its energy efficiency stands at around 33 %, 10 percentage points lower than the developed countries, said Zhao Jiarong, director of the department of environment resources conservation under the Chinese commission.
In 2003, energy consumption in China reached 1.68 bn tons of standard coal, 11 % of the total consumption of the world, among which coal took up 67.2 %, crude oil 22.7 %, natural gas 2.8 % and renewable energy 7.3 %.

Zhao said the introduction of the program isexpected to draw energy-saving experience from members of European Commission and promote the sustainable development in China.
The European Commission donates EUR 20 mm to the project, and the rest of its cost comes from China.

Source: Xinhua