2010-03-26 16:17

China's top economic planner wants to make the environmental protection industry a new economic pillar in 2015, when the sector's output is to account for 7 percent to 8 percent of China's GDP, the 21st Century Business Herald reported Friday.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) may release the national plan for energy-saving and environmental protection industries this year, said Wang Yuqing, an environment expert with the National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top advisory body.

Measures discussed include tax breaks and preferential policies to boost development of energy-saving industries, especially the application of new energy-saving technologies and products, according to Wang.

Unlike stimulus plans for China's ten key industries, which remain valid until 2011, the national plan for promoting energy-saving and environmental protection industries is a mid- and long-term one, Wang said.

The NDRC is soliciting opinions on the draft plan from other ministries.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection also plans to issue guidance that will promote the industry's development, Vice Minister Wu Xiaoqing said at a recent environmental protection technology meeting.

The output of China's environmental protection industry will exceed 1 trillion yuan ($146.48 billion) in 2010, accounting for more than 3 percent of the country's GDP, and will top 2 trillion yuan by 2015, Wang said, citing a latest environment research report. The report predicts that the environmental protection sector will become a backbone industry in 2020.