「人民網日本語版」2007年6月4日
中国、時機を見て燃料税を施行、環境税を検討
国家発展改革委員会と関連部門が制定、国務院がこのほど発表した「省エネ・排出抑制総合工作方案」によると、中国は省エネ・排出抑制を奨励するための税収政策を制定・完備する方針。時機を見計らい、燃料税を発表し、環境税の制定を検討するという。新華社のウェブサイト「新華網」が伝えた。
同「方案」の具体的な政策内容は次の通り。
▽
省エネ・環境保護型自動車および船舶、省エネルギー・土地節約・環境保護型建築物および現有建築物の省エネ改造を奨励する税収面での優遇政策を実施する。
▽時機を見計らい、燃料税の徴収を施行する。
▽環境税の徴収を検討する。
▽新エネルギーの発展を促進する税収政策を検討する。
▽先進的な省エネ・環境保護技術や設備の輸入を奨励する税収面での優遇政策を実施する。
▽交通運輸における省エネルギー・排出抑制管理を強化するため、都市の公共交通の発展を優先させ、都市高速公共交通・レール交通の建設を加速する。
▽燃費や汚染度が高い自動車の発展を抑制し、乗用車・軽商用車の燃料消費量の限定基準を厳格化し、燃費申告・公示制度を作り上げる。
▽新エネルギー自動車生産への参入許可管理規則を公布・実施し、代替エネルギー自動車の産業化を促進する。
2007-06-03
Xinhua
Chinese gov't urges efforts for
energy saving, pollutant reduction
China's State Council, or cabinet, has urged local governments and companies around the country to "earnestly carry out" a plan for energy efficiency and pollutant discharge reduction.
The State Council on Sunday published a circular asking all local authorities, government departments and companies to report before June 30 their own detailed plans for carrying out the General Work Plan for Energy Conservation and Pollutant Discharge Reduction.
The General Work Plan was jointly worked out by the National Development and Reform Commission and other government departments, and sets a target to reduce energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 20 percent and major pollutants discharge by 10 percent in the 11th five-year plan period ending 2010.
The General Work Plan was issued in the wake of the failure to reach the goal for energy saving and discharge reduction last year-- cutting energy consumption per unit of GDP by four percent and discharges of major pollutants by two percent.
Given the efforts and progress made to hit last year's target, the State Council circular said, the failure "adds difficulties to energy saving and discharge reduction in the remaining four years of the 11th five-year plan period".
To make the situation even more serious, it said, electricity, steel, nonferrous metals, construction materials, oil processing and chemicals, the six high energy-consuming and highly polluting industries, "grew excessively fast in the first quarter of this year".
The industries, which account for nearly 70 percent of energy consumption and sulfur dioxide discharges of the entire industrial sector, grew by 20.6 percent in the first quarter, 6.6 percentage points higher than the same period a year earlier.
The circular also criticized "all sides" for their poor awareness of the importance of energy efficiency and pollutant reduction.
"If we fail to take immediate measures to reverse the situation, it will be difficult for us not only to make obvious progress in energy saving and discharge reduction this year, but also to reach the overall goal for the 11th five-year plan period," the circular said.
2007-06-03 Xinhua
China to stick to strict enviroment-protection plans
The Chinese government has reiterated its intention to meet strict energy efficiency and pollutant reduction targets, which it failed last year, in an official work plan published here Sunday.
The General Work Plan for Energy Conservation and Pollutant Discharge Reduction 「省エネ・排出抑制総合工作方案」 shows that China will stick to the original plan of energy saving as well as reducing major pollutant discharges by 10 percent.
Under a five-year plan to 2010, China pledged to cut energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 20 percent, or four percent each year, but consumption fell by just 1.23 percent last year.
China will promote the use of renewable energy resources, such as wind power, solar power, hydro power, methane and terrestrial heat地熱. The country will also establish medium- and long-term outlines on fuel ethanol and bio ethanol, the plan said.
According to the plan, units, branches and bodies of the central government will take the lead of using energy-saving lights and 50 million similar lights will be in use nationwide by 2010.
Meanwhile, the plan makes it compulsory for government departments to purchase highly efficient energy-saving, water-saving and environmental-friendly products in governmental procurement, such as conditioners, computers, printers and displays.
The state will encourage and direct financial institutions to enhance credit support for environment-protection and pollution-reduction projects. The government will also offer preferential tax treatments for such projects.
China will also reform pricing mechanism for resource products, such as refined oil, natural gas and electricity, and restrict the export of high-energy consuming and heavy-polluting products.
China will optimize energy use in high-energy consuming industries, such as steel, non-ferrous metal, petrochemical and cement production, realize energy-saving capacities of 50 million tons of standard coal in 2007 and 240 million tons by 2010.
The country will save 31.5 million tons of standard coal this year and 118 million tons by 2010, and cut sulfur dioxide emissions by 400,000 tons in 2007 and by 2.4 million tons by 2010.
To meet the goals, the government will accelerate the elimination of out-dated production capacities and reduce chemical oxygen demand (COD) by 620,000 tons this year and by 1.38 million tons by 2010.
To meet the goal, the government has set a list of targets, including:
-- Solid fuel-burning electricity generating capacity will be reduced by 10 million kilowatts this year and 50 million kilowatts by 2010;
-- Iron ore production capacity to lose by 30 million tons this year and 100 million tons by 2010;
-- Steel production to close 35 million tons of capacity this year and 55 million tons by 2010;
-- Electrolytic aluminum production to close 100,000 tons of capacity this year and 650,000 tons by 2010;
-- Iron alloy production capacity to lose 1.2 million tons this year and four million tons by 2010;
-- Calcium carbide production capacity to lose 500,000 tons this year and two million tons by 2010;
-- Coke production capacity of 10 million tons will close this year and 80 million tons by 2010;
-- Cement production capacity to lose 50 million tons this year and 250 million tons by 2010;
-- Glass production capacity of six million weight boxes to be closed this year and 30 million weight boxes by 2010;
-- Papermaking capacity of 2.3 million tons to be closed this year and 6.5 million tons by 2010.
-- Alcohol production capacity to lose 400,000 tons this year and 1.6 million tons by 2010;
-- Monosodium glutamate production capacity of 50,000 tons to be eliminated this year and 200,000 tons by 2010;
-- Citric acid production to close 20,000 tons of capacity this year and 80,000 tons by 2010.
The discharge of sulfur dioxide will drop from 25.49 million tons in 2005 to 22.95 million tons in 2010 while chemical oxygen demand (COD) should drop from 14.14 million tons to 12.73 million tons, under the plan.
Desulfurizition facilities will be incorporated in all new solid fuel-burning electricity plants with total power-generation capacities of 188 million kilowatts and established plants with capacities of 167 million kilowatts, cutting the country's sulfur dioxide emissions by 5.9 million tons annually.
China has so far installed desulfurizition facilities in solid fuel-burning electricity plants with total power-generation capacities of 35 million kilowatts, eliminating 1.23 million tons of sulfur dioxide emissions every year.
Daily urban sewage treatment capacity will rise to 12 million tons this year 45 million tons by 2010 and the daily utilization capacity of recycled water will reach one million tons this year and 6.8 million tons by 2010.
Meanwhile, charges for sulfur dioxide emissions will double from 0.63 yuan to 1.26 yuan per kilogram in three years, while urban sewage treatment fees of no more than 0.8 yuan per ton will be implemented and rubbish treatment fees will be raised.
The government will ensure the urban sewage treatment rate will reach 70 percent, the comprehensive use of industrial solid waste 60 percent, and water consumption per unit of industrial net profit will drop by 30 percent.
The daily seawater desalination capacity will increase by 900,000 cubic meters and the use of water from mining shafts will reach 2.6 billion cubic meters by 2010; the targets will be 70,000cubic meters and 500 million cubic meters respectively in 2007.
The plan requires departments and local governments to prioritize the tasks and use economic, legal and administrative methods to curb excessive growth of high-energy consuming and heavy-polluting industries.
Meanwhile, efforts must be made to adjust industrial structure, improve technology, expand spending and strengthen monitoring.
2007-06-04 Xinhua
Targets of scrapping out-dated production capacity for pollution control
China's State Council, or cabinet, on Sunday issued the General Work Plan for Energy Conservation and Pollutant Discharge Reduction, urging governments and companies around the country to "earnestly" implement it.
The plan lists targets to scrap out-dated production capacity for 2007, including:
-- Electricity: small thermal power generating units with a combined capacity of up to 10 million kilowatts;
-- Iron: furnaces smaller than 300 cubic meters with a combined smelting capacity of up to 30 million tons;
-- Steel: small converters and electric furnaces each producing 200,000 tons or below a year, with a combined production capacity of 35 million tons;
-- Electrolytic aluminum: small prebaking cells with a combined capacity of up to 100,000 tons;
-- Iron alloy: low-shaft electric furnaces below 6,300 kilovolt-amperes with a combined production capacity of up to 1.2 million tons;
-- Calcium carbide: electric furnaces below 6,300 kilovolt-amperes with a combined production capacity of up to 500,000 tons;
-- Coke: small cokers with coke chambers with a height smaller than 4.3 meters, with a combined production capacity of up to 1 million tons;
-- Glass: out-dated glass plating equipment with a combined capacity of up to 6 million weight boxes;
-- Paper making: grass pulp production equipment with annual output below 34,000 tons, chemical pulp production lines with annual output below 17,000 tons, and paper mills with waste paper as raw materials and annual output below 10,000 tons that fail to reach set waste discharge standards, with a combined capacity of up to 2.3 million tons;
-- Alcohol: enterprises with out-dated production techniques with annual output below 30,000 tons (except those using waste sugar and honey as raw materials), with a combined capacity of up to 400,000 tons;
-- Monosodium glutamate: enterprises producing less than 30,000 tons annually, with a combined capacity of up to 50,000 tons;
-- Citric acid: factories that fail to meet environmental protection standards with a total capacity of up to 20,000 tons.
2007-06-04 Xinhua
China eyes legal, economic measures to cut pollution
China is putting more emphasis on economic measures to save energy and cut pollutants discharge, including gradual reform of the pricing system of the resources products to reflect their true scarcity and impact on the environment, a high-ranking official said here on Monday.
"The Chinese government has introduced lots of financial and tax incentives to promote the use of energy-saving technologies and products," Ma Kai, minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planning agency, told a press conference.
The country will continue to use comprehensive measures that compass economic and legal measures and necessary administrative orders to conserve energy.
In this regard, China has enacted laws on environmental protection and renewable energy.
As a major means, energy efficiency and pollutant discharge reduction will be key factors in the performance assessments of local officials at various levels.
Energy efficiency and pollutant discharge reduction should be set as indices for assessing economic and social development in all localities and the performance of government and company leaders, the State Council said in a circular issued on Sunday.
They will receive a negative performance assessment if they fail to reach goals for energy efficiency and pollutant discharge reduction regardless of achievements in other fields, according to the document.
This means the performance of officials will not be judged merely by the growth of gross domestic product in all localities, Ma told reporters.
2007-06-04 Xinhua
China not to undertake quantitative task for reducing greenhouse gas emission
Not undertaking quantitative task for reducing greenhouse gas emission does not mean China won't undertake GHG mitigation obligation, China's top economic planner Ma Kai said at a press conference here on Monday.
China should not take the traditional industrialization path with high emission and high-energy consumption. It should blaze a new road of fast and efficient economic growth in concert with low resources consumption and low waste discharge, said Ma, minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission.
"This process itself will be part of China's contribution to the world's sustainable development and to worldwide efforts to address climate changes," he said.
Ma said climate changes have attracted increasing attention from the international community, which has reached consensus on the following facts:
-- Global warming is an indisputable fact.
-- Global warming has brought about serious results to natural ecological environment as well as to the environment for human survival and development.
-- Apart from natural factors, global warming has been resulted from human activities, particularly the use of fossil fuels such as coal and oil, which account for 65 percent of carbon dioxide emission worldwide.
-- Climatic problems have no boundaries. Global warming is a common challenge facing the human being, which needs the joint efforts of international community.
"The Chinese government has always attached importance to climate changes and always been willing to cooperate with the international community in easing global warming," the minister said.
Talking about whether a developing nation should undertake quantitative task for GHG mitigation, Ma said it is necessary to properly understand the essence of the climatic change issue.
He quoted Chinese President Hu Jintao's judgement made at a G8+5 meeting held the year before last year. Hu said climate change was a problem of environment and a problem of development at the same time.
Ma said the climatic change issue cropped up in the process of development and should be addressed through development, citing the indisputable fact that developed nations discharged unlimited greenhouse gas, mainly carbon dioxide, during their industrialization process.
The developed nations accounted for 95 percent of carbon dioxide emission worldwide resulting from the use of fossil fuels from the start of the Industrial Revolution to 1955, and for 77 percent in the 1950-2000 period, Ma quoted statistical data.
Therefore, the minister said, developed nations are inescapably liable for climate changes and should take major obligations.
"They are under an obligation to provide financial and technological support for developing nations in their efforts against climate changes," Ma said.
As for developing nations, they recorded less accumulative amount of GHG discharge and low per-capita emission, their priorities are economic development and poverty relief, according to Ma.
While addressing the climatic change issue, the international community should take into full consideration developing nations' right and space to develop.
"We think if facts, historical accountability and different nations in different stages of development are ignored and climatic problems are taken as an excuse in improperly requiring developing countries to take on GHG mitigation obligations as their developed peers do, it is not objective and unfair, as the requirement may restrict the industrialization and development of developing nations," Ma said.
According to China's National Climate Change Program issued on Monday, China will likely mitigate carbon dioxide emission by approximately 50 million tons by 2010 through the development of hydro power projects. Another 110 million tons of the greenhouse gas will not be discharged by eliminating small thermal power projects.
Meanwhile, bio-energy projects will help reduce GHG emission by 30 million tons by 2010, and wind, solar, marine and terrestrial heat projects help slash such gas emission by 60 million tons.
2007-06-03 Xinhua
China says energy efficiency key to performance of gov't, company leaders
Leaders of China's governments and major companies have been put on notice that energy efficiency and pollutant discharge reduction will be key factors in their performance assessments, the State Council, or cabinet, officially warned on Sunday.
Energy efficiency and pollutant discharge reduction should be set as indices for assessing economic and social development in all localities and the performance of government and company leaders, the State Council said in a circular.
They will receive a negative performance assessment if they fail to reach goals for energy efficiency and pollutant discharge reduction regardless of achievements in other fields.
Last year, the government set a goal to reduce energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 20 percent and major pollutants discharge by 10 percent in the 11th five-year plan period ending 2010.
Under the goal, the nation must cut energy consumption per unit of GDP by four percent and discharges of major pollutants by two percent last year.
But the country fell short of the targets, said Premier Wen Jiabao in his government work report to the national legislature in March.
Nobody has been blamed nor taken responsibility for the failure.
The "excessively fast" growth of electricity, steel, nonferrous metals, construction materials, oil processing and chemical industries in the first quarter created difficulties in fulfilling the goal, said the circular on the government General Work Plan for Energy Conservation and Pollutant Discharge Reduction.
The six industries account for nearly 70 percent of the entire industrial sector's energy consumption and sulfur dioxide discharges, which grew by 20.6 percent in the first quarter, 6.6 percentage points higher than the same period a year earlier.
China has paid "a huge cost in terms of resources and the environment" for its rapid economic growth, and the people "have many complaints about environmental pollution", said the circular.
Meanwhile, greenhouse gas emissions have contributed to global warming and aroused great concern in the international community.
"Greater efforts for efficiency and discharge reduction are urgently needed to deal with global weather changes and a responsibility we should shoulder," it added.
"If we fail to take immediate measures to reverse the situation, it will be difficult for us not only to make obvious progress in energy saving and discharge reduction this year, but also to reach the overall goal for the 11th five-year plan period," the circular said.
To ensure energy efficiency and discharge reduction, the State Council issued the General Work Plan, asking all local authorities, government departments and major companies to report their own detailed plans before June 30.
Authorities and government departments should give priority to energy efficiency and discharge reduction, making them a major means to evaluate positive economic development, said the circular.
"We should make sure that the economy grows on the basis of energy and resource conservation and environmental protection."
The goal for energy efficiency and discharge reduction is an index to enhance government responsibility and "it is the government's solemn commitment to the people to reach the goal", it said.
Officials who violate laws and regulations on energy conservation and environmental protection will be prosecuted.
The circular also asked enterprises to pledge to the government that they will fulfill their goals for energy efficiency and discharge reduction.
Enterprises that illegally discharge pollutants will be fined heavily and their leaders and staff responsible will be prosecuted, it said.
The State Council has set up a leading group to oversee the national efforts for energy efficiency and discharge reduction.
Its major tasks are to make plans for energy saving and discharge reduction and coordinate help to resolve major problems arising in the process, said the circular, without naming the leading group members.
The office of the leading group will be in the National Development and Reform Commission. The State Environment Protection Administration is authorized to deal with issues related to pollution control and discharge reduction.
Major targets of China's energy efficiency work plan
The major targets of the General Work Plan for the year 2010 include:
-- Energy consumption per 10,000-yuan of gross domestic product reduced from 1.22 tons of standard coal in 2005 to below one ton, down by about 20 percent;
-- Water consumption per unit of industrial value added reduced by 30 percent;
-- Discharge of major pollutants reduced by 10 percent;
-- Discharge of sulfur dioxide reduced from 25.49 million tons in 2005 to 22.95 million tons;
-- Chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduced from 14.14 million tons in 2005 to 12.73 million tons;
-- The ratio of national urban treated sewage reaching at least70 percent;
-- The ratio of comprehensive utilization of industrial solid wastes reaching 60 percent or more.
Targets for this year:
-- Daily urban sewage treatment capacity increased by 12 million tons;
-- Daily recycled water utilization capacity increased by one million tons;
-- Capacity to reduce chemical oxygen demand (COD) increased by600,000 tons;
-- Putting into operation desulfurization units with a combined capacity of 35 million kilowatts;
-- Starting construction of coal gangue-fueled power plants with a combined generating capacity of five million kilowatts.
Targets for 2010:
-- Daily urban sewage treatment capacity increased by 45 million tons;
-- Daily recycled water utilization capacity increased by 6.8 million tons;
-- Capacity to reduce chemical oxygen demand (COD) increased by three million tons;
-- Putting into operation desulfurization units with a combined capacity of 355 million kilowatts;
-- Building coal gangue-fueled power plants with a combined generating capacity of 20 million kilowatts.