CHINA, the world's second-biggest energy consumer, shut down 5.5 million kilowatts of capacity at small, coal-fired power plants in the first half of this year in a bid to increase the efficient use of fuel and cut pollution.
The closures amount to 55 percent of the nation's goal for the year and resulted in the savings of 8.5 million tons of standard coal, the government said in a posting on its Website.
The shutdowns shaved seven million tons off carbon dioxide emissions, and cut output of sulfur dioxide, a contributor to acid rain, by 200,000 tons, according to National Development and Reform Commission figures cited in the report.
China produced 6,200 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels and producing cement last year, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency said in a June 19 statement. That pushed China past the United States, which emitted 5,800 million tons, as the biggest producer of the gas, the agency said.
Authorities in Beijing have set goals for China to cut the amount of energy consumed for each unit of gross domestic product by 20 percent in the five years through 2010 and to slash emissions of major pollutants by 10 percent, Bloomberg News reported.