China yesterday stepped up its efforts to boost energy conservation in the country, enforcing new rules demanding energy-saving assessments of new fixed asset investment projects.

All new investments must undergo independent assessments and government reviews on whether they are energy-saving or not before being approved by regulators, the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, said yesterday in a statement on its website.

"It is very important and urgent for us to curb excessive growth of energy consumption and raise energy use efficiency," the statement said.

According to the new regulations, independent institutions will carry out the energy-saving assessments while government departments will take charge of the review work.

Any fixed asset investment project that fails to meet the energy-saving requirements will be vetoed, according to the regulations, which take effect on November 1.

Those projects that pass energy-saving assessments and reviews will be subjected to strict supervision on their actual energy consumption.

According to the regulations, managers running a project with an annual energy consumption over 3,000 tons of coal equivalent must submit a detailed energy-saving report to government regulators.

Those who run a project with an annual energy consumption between 1,000 tons and 3,000 tons of coal equivalent will have to submit a brief energy-saving report while managers of projects which consume less than 1,000 tons of coal equivalent annually will only have to fill in government energy-saving forms.

There is now no such compulsory curb on the country's new fixed asset investment project.

Li Zuojun, deputy director of Resources and Environmental Policy Research Institute under the Development Research Center of the State Council, said the rules are significant in China's rapid industrialization and urbanization process.

"Our country's industrialization and urbanization are mainly achieved through fixed asset investments, which consume a lot of energy," Li said, "thus the new rules are good for the government to restrain energy consumption from growing too fast."

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