The Shanghai government yesterday announced a plan to greatly reduce its energy consumption and emission of toxic pollutants by 2010.

Among its major goals compared with 2005: to reduce the city's overall energy consumption by 20 percent per unit of Gross Domestic Product; to reduce its overall emission of sulfur dioxide by 26 percent; and to increase the rate of sewage treatment to reach 80 percent.

"Energy saving and environmental protection are of vital importance for the city's further development," Chen Qiwei, a municipal spokesman, said yesterday.

To fulfill the target, the government will refurbish 14 major coal-fired power plants and hundreds of industrial boilers so that their emission will be further desulfated, he said.

The government vows to build, rebuild and upgrade more than 25 sewage treatment plants and related networks.

The city will also ensure that new buildings must meet the country's energy-saving standard.

(Shanghai Daily August 14, 2007)