Energy efficiency and environmental protection were the focus of a Sino-British seminar held in Beijing on Wednesday, highlighting the role standardization has to play on both fronts.

To deal with China's critical environmental and energy situations, authorities pledged to complete an energy conservation and environmental protection standards system. To be implemented within five years, the standards will be tailored to the country's needs for sustainable growth.

The message was delivered by Vice-Director of the Standardization Administration of China Zhang Yanhua at the 2005 China-Britain Standardization Conference, jointly sponsored by the administration and the British Standardization Institute.

Zhang said China had enacted 120-plus national standards on energy saving and at least 20 energy efficiency standards.

It has also created more than 400 standards for environmental protection, including pollutant discharge limits.

However, the quantity and quality of the standards are far from sufficient, Zhang said.

For example, most equipment in Chinese factories does not meet energy efficiency standards, and the country has yet to improve legislation to ensure the standards are implemented to the letter, she said.

He Bingguang, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission, yesterday said that on average, China's top energy consumers, including steel and cement plants, use some 40 per cent more energy than those in advanced countries.

Speaking at the seminar, British Ambassador to China Christopher Hum said countries should work together to set standards to meet their shared objectives on environmental protection and energy efficiency.

Crispin Tickell, chairman of the International Council of the Scientific Union's Advisory Committee on the Environment, said lurches between accelerating environmental damage and accelerating environmental protection are a feature of modern China.

Tickell said the conference gave the opportunity for the Standardization Administration of China and the British Standards Institute to become partners.

(China Daily July 1, 2005)