The State Council approved an environmental plan for the five years through 2010-2015, urging industrial restructuring to conserve resources and requiring companies to adhere to environmental standards to help reduce the damage to its water supplies, coast and air.

Companies should adhere to existing laws when expanding or building new plants, while addressing outstanding pollution as quickly as possible.

The five-year plan includes "specific measures" to reach previously announced targets to reduce energy consumption per unit of economic output by 20 percent and major pollutant discharges by 10 percent by 2010.

China's energy development

The country is striving to ensure a stable supply of energy with a steady increase in domestic energy production and promote the common development of energy around the world.

Giving priority to thrift

China has made resource-conservation a basic state policy, and stresses both developing, with priority given to savings. For this, it is actively changing the pattern of economic growth, adjusting the industrial structure, encouraging research and development of energy-saving technologies, popularizing energy-saving products, improving energy management expertise, improving energy-saving legislation and standards, and enhancing energy efficiency.

Relying on domestic resources

China mainly relies on itself to increase the supply of energy, and tries to satisfy the rising market demand by way of steadily expanding the domestic supply of reliable energy resources.

Encouraging diverse patterns of development

China will continue to develop its coal resources in an orderly way, spur the power industry, speed up oil and natural gas exploration, encourage coal bed gas tapping, boost hydroelectric power and other renewable energy resources, actively promote nuclear power development, develop substitute energy resources in a scientific way, optimize its energy structure, realize supplementation between multiple energy resources, and guarantee a steady supply of energy.

Relying on science and technology

China fully relies on science and technology to enhance its ability for independent innovation and its ability to digest and improve imported technologies, tackle technological bottlenecks in energy development, improve key technologies and the manufacturing level of key equipment, seek new ways for energy development and utilization, and redouble the strength for further development.

Protecting the environment

China has set the goal of building a resource-conserving, environment-friendly society, and is endeavoring to coordinate energy development with environmental protection. It endeavors to make the two promote each other for sustainable development.

Cooperation for mutual benefit

China works sincerely and pragmatically with international energy organizations and other countries on the principle of equality, mutual benefit and win-win to improve the mechanism, expand the fields of cooperation and safeguard international energy security and stability.