·Wen said the country is in grave need of cutting energy consumption and pollution.
·China only lowered its energy consumption per unit of GDP by 1.2% last year.
·Wen called on enterprises to strictly abide by environmental protection laws.

    BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan will head up a team tasked with ensuring the country's energy consumption and pollution reduction targets stated in the Chinese government's 2006-2010 five-year plan are met.

    At a meeting of the State Council on Wednesday, Wen said the country is in grave need of cutting energy consumption and pollution as sectors with high energy consumption and high pollution are still having rapid growth.

    Wen said the government should regard it as an "important responsibility" and play a "dominant role" in addressing the issue.

    He also called on enterprises to strictly abide by environmental protection laws and regulations.

    China has set a goal to slash its energy consumption per unit of domestic gross product by 20 percent and the discharges of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) by 10 percent between 2006 and 2010.

    However, the country only lowered its energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 1.2 percent last year, well short of its four percent target.

China's environmental watchdog orders local gov'ts, enterprises to release pollution figures

    BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- China's environmental departments and polluters will have to publicize information regarding environmental degradation and pollution, according to a draft measure issued by the country's environment watchdog on Wednesday.

    "Environmental departments at all levels are required to make public 17 categories of environmental information including laws, regulations, policies and standards regarding environmental protection," said the draft issued by the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).  Full story

Editor: Luan Shanglin