Turning point

The central government has spent a total of 23.5 billion yuan in saving energy and reducing emissions this year. It ordered that progress in environmental protection be a key standard by which officials and company heads are judged.

Those who don't meet the targets could be exempted from promotion, while failing provinces and companies would not get approval for high energy consuming projects, it said.

The government even told officials to keep indoor temperatures below 21 centigrade degrees in winter, use energy-saving elevators and purchase Chinese-made fuel-efficient cars with manual transmission.

In July, China scrapped export tax rebates on more than 500 products to curb high-energy-consuming and pollutant-discharging industries and exports of key natural resources.

China is also closing inefficient coal-fired power units and outmoded steel plants, in an effort to save hundreds of millions of tons of coal and water and cut emissions by millions of tons a year. Banks are warned against lending to non-environmentally friendly projects.

All these efforts are starting to yield results, Xie told a press conference last month where he announced that China's energy consumption per unit GDP fell three percent in the first nine months, while both sulphur dioxide emissions and chemical oxygen demand dropped.

Zhang Lijun, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, said that "this year will be a turning point in China's pollution control."

"A lot of progress has been made this year but more should be done," said Xie.