China, the world’s biggest generator of greenhouse gases, estimated it may spend 2.37 trillion yuan ($373 billion) on projects for conserving energy and reducing emissions in the five years through 2015, spurring a surge in shares of environmental protection companies.
The nation plans by 2015 to reduce the amount of energy it uses to produce every unit of gross domestic product by 16 percent from 2010 levels, the State Council said in a statement late yesterday. In the five years through 2015, the world’s second-biggest economy is aiming for energy savings equal to 670 million tons of standard coal equivalent energy, it said.
China has sought to increase energy efficiency and improve environmental conditions as the three decades of expansion that boosted the size of its economy more than 90-fold also fueled public outrage over a surge in pollution. Economists including those at the International Monetary Fund have also recommended spending on environmental protection as a way to support growth as the European debt crisis saps demand for China’s exports.
“The environmental protection industry is one of the few areas that have good growth potential in China as the government is increasing investment,” said Wei Wei, an analyst at West China Securities in Shanghai. “Stocks in the sector will do well in a scenario where most industries are slowing down.”
The estimated spending in the period during the so-called 12th five-year plan will be for key energy-saving, emission reduction and recycling projects, the State Council said.
Shares rise
Hebei Sailhero Environmental Protection High-tech jumped by the 10 percent daily limit to the highest in a month at the 11:30 a.m. trading break in Shenzhen. Dalian East New Energy Development gained as much as 9.2 percent and Hunan Yonker Environmental Protection rose as much as 5.9 percent.
China’s government has previously said it aimed to cut the amount of carbon it emits per unit of economic output by 40 percent to 45 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels. The nation will gradually establish a mechanism to control total energy consumption, Liu Tienan, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, wrote last month in Qiushi Magazine.
The targets have spurred demand to develop renewable energy. China’s clean energy generation rose 31 percent to 106.8 billion kilowatt-hours in July from a year earlier, according to an Aug. 21 statement posted to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.
