China's energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) dropped three percent year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2007, a senior economic planning official said on Thursday. The emission of main pollutants, sulfur dioxide and chemical oxygen demand (COD), also fell during the period from January to September, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

China burned more than twice as much coal as any other country in 2006, 39 percent of the global total, a US environment group said on Wednesday. China was followed by the US, which burned 18 percent of the world's total coal, said the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute in an update to its Vital Signs Report. The European Union and India came in third and fourth place, accounting for 10 percent and 8 percent of total coal use, respectively. Demand for coal is growing rapidly in China, which accounted for more than 70 percent of the global growth in coal use in 2006 and for more than 60 percent of the rise in coal use over the past decade.

China will build a new strategic petroleum reserve in Wanzhou, a district in Chongqing Municipality in the southwest, once final approval is obtained from the central government. The Wanzhou District Government and the Sichuan Bureau of Material Reserves signed an investment agreement last Friday about launching a joint venture for building a new oil reserve base in Wanzhou, about 300 km away from Chongqing.

The Chinese government is to introduce a seven-billion-yuan (933 million US dollars) reward scheme aimed at encouraging companies around the country to conserve energy and reduce emissions. The plan comes as part of a 23.5-billion-yuan package announced Monday by the Ministry of Finance to promote energy efficiency and reduce pollution. Zhang Shaochun, vice minister of finance, said the rewards would be granted to enterprises that fulfil the requirements in reduction of emissions and would be used to support technical innovation.