China has said it will invest ¥2.37 trillion ($373 billion) in energy-saving projects and pollution control by the end of 2015, boosting share prices of environmental technology companies in the country.
The State Council of China published a document late on Tuesday outlining measures to save energy, reduce emissions, protect the climate and enhance capacity for sustainable development, as part of its 12th Five-Year-Plan.
The investments will go to energy-saving projects estimated to save 300 million tonnes of standard coal equivalent by 2015, the document says. This would bring the country about half way to achieving its goal of energy savings of 670 million tonnes of standard coal between 2011 and 15.
In early trading on the Shenzhen stock exchange on Wednesday, shares in environmental technology companies Heibei Sailhero had jumped 10%, Dalian East New Energy Development was up 9.2% and Hunan Yonker Environmental Protection rose by 5.9%, Bloomberg reported.
But at the close, shares in Heibei Sailhero and Dalian East New Energy continued to rise whereas Hunan Yonker was down slightly.
China, the biggest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, aims to reduce the energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 16% by 2015 compared with 2010 levels.
Other key areas in its plan are to strengthen its environmental infrastructure, promote environmental industries and boost pollution control.
By. Elza Holmstedt Pell
