NPC,  CPPCC Annual Sessions 2009     

    BEIJING, March 8 -- The development of new energy forms should be an important strategy in tackling China's energy shortages and pollution, and global climate change, the head of the National Energy Administration said Saturday.

    China needed to invest more in research and development and production of new energy sources, or risk falling behind other countries, said Zhang Guobao, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

    In China, coal accounts for about 70 percent of total energy consumption, compared with a world average of 30 percent.

    The government has said it will promote clean energies, such as nuclear, wind, and solar power, this year.

    Over the past three years, energy consumption per unit of GDP dropped by more than 10 percent, and sulfur dioxide emissions by almost 9 percent.

    China aims to cut energy consumption for every 10,000 yuan, or 1,300 U.S. dollars, of GDP by 20 percent by next year, with emissions to drop 10 percent.

    Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Beijing.   

    (Source: XHTV)