Feb. 28, 2007 (China Knowledge) – Figures released by the government today show that China has failed to meet its energy conservation target for 2006.

In its 11th Five Plan, China has targeted to improve its energy utilization efficiency by 20%, with the goal of decreasing its energy consumption for per unit GDP created by 20%. The target for 2006 was 4%.

According to the National Statistics Bureau, in 2006, the energy consumption for every RMB 10,000 of GDP created fell to 1.21 tons of standard coal, only 1.23% lower than 2005, falling short of the 4% target.

In 2006, the total energy consumption reached 2.46 billion tons of standard coal, 9.3% higher than 2005. The breakdown is as follows: coal consumption reached 2.37 billion tons, 9.6% higher than 2005; crude oil consumption reached 320 million tons, 7.1% higher than 2005; natural gas consumption reached 55.6 billion cubic meters, nearly 20% higher than 2005.

Even though China failed to meet its 2006 energy saving target, a closer look unveils that some progress had been made in the second half of 2006. According to the previous report, in the first half of 2006, the energy consumption per unit GDP actually increased by 0.8%, meaning the nation’s energy consumption in the second half actually improved to reverse the increase in the first half year.