Opinion

Bigger, greener

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-06 11:48

Revised data has shown that the Chinese economy has not only grown bigger than previously reported but has likely made more efficient use of energy in 2009.

For policymakers eager to meet the country's five-year energy reduction target, this is a much-needed slap on the back.

While China had planned to cut energy intensity by 20 percent between 2006 and 2010, it was originally reported that its actual use of energy per unit of GDP had altogether fallen by 14.38 percent over the past four years.

China had managed to reduce energy intensity by more than 4 percent a year in 2007 and 2008. But initial statistics pointed to only a 2.2-percent drop of energy intensity in 2009.

Latest figures, however, indicate that the Chinese economy expanded by 9.1 percent last year, faster than the initially reported 8.7-percent rebound.

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This 0.4-percentage acceleration in GDP growth should, in theory, lead to some slight improvement in energy efficiency.

Better, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, the bulk of the increase in GDP has come from services. Given that the services sector is generally more energy-efficient than the industrial sector, the upward adjustment of GDP growth rate can only mean an even greater marginal improvement in energy efficiency.

If so, policymakers have been given more breathing room to narrow the gap between the country's bleak energy-efficiency reality and its five-year energy goal.

They must, however, be made aware that the country's efficiency gains have started to reverse, and actually deteriorated by 3.2 percent in the first quarter of this year.

To pursue sustainable development, they must strive harder to ensure that China's economic growth and energy efficiency gains go hand in hand.