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.

China has vowed to cut the energy consumption used to generate per unit of GDP by 20 percent and major pollutants emissions by ten percent between 2006 and 2010.

The nation will take economic, legal and necessary administrative measures to reach the mandatory targets, a government's solemn promise to the people, Xie Zhenhua, deputy chief of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told a press conference in Beijing.

During the three quarters, sulfur dioxide emissions in China fell 1.81 percent and the chemical oxygen demand, a measure of water pollution, dropped 0.28 percent, the State Environmental Protection Administration said on Nov. 14.

(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2007)