SHANGHAI Pudong Development Bank signed a strategic partnership agreement yesterday with Baosteel Engineering and Technology Group to tap the growing call for energy-saving measures.

The Chinese government is set to offer a preferential policy to energy-saving industries as the world's second-biggest economy seeks a sustainable growth and promotes cutting energy consumption, said Dai Yande, vice director of the Energy Research Institute at the National Development and Reform Commission, yesterday in Shanghai, without elaboration.

China is trying to keep its energy demand under 4.5 trillion tons of coal equivalent although it may surge to 5.3 trillion tons instead, Dai said.

The Shanghai-listed bank will team up with Baosteel Engineering in energy performance contracting, which is a financing tool that uses cost savings from less energy consumption to repay the cost of installing energy conservation facilities. The bank will offer loans for energy performance contracting.