China requires energy-use review before project approvals

BEIJING, Sept 21 (Reuters) - China will start evaluating energy efficiency levels for any proposed capital expenditure programmes as of November, as the country shuns energy-guzzling projects in favour of greener development.

"Energy-saving reviews must be conducted for new projects by third parties in accordance with energy-saving laws and standards ... projects not meeting energy-saving standards will not be approved," the National Development and Reform Commission said in statement on its website (www.ndrc.gov.cn).

"Energy-saving is a precondition for project approval and construction."

A detailed energy-saving report must be compiled for any project with projected consumption of more than 30 million tonnes of coal equivalent per year, and a shorter report is required for projects with expected energy use of 10 million to 30 million tonnes. The rest are required to fill out simpler energy-saving registration forms, the commission said.

Beijing raised power tariffs for many energy intensive sectors and even cut electricity supplies to some of them recently as the government pushes toward its goal of cutting energy intensity -- energy used in each unit of GDP -- by 20 percent by the end of this year from 2005 levels.

(Reporting by Jim Bai and Aizhu Chen; Editing by Ken Wills)