More efforts were made to conserve energy and resources and to develop a circular economy. Although targets for energy conservation and pollutant emission reduction set at the beginning of 2006 were not met, awareness of the importance of this work was increased throughout society and efforts were strengthened. The central government promulgated a decision to intensify energy conservation work and signed agreements with 30 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government), the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and several central government enterprises to meet energy conservation and pollution reduction targets. An accountability and assessment mechanism for meeting these targets was introduced, and a system to publish energy consumption per unit of GDP and water consumption per unit of industrial added value was officially launched. Good overall progress was made in ten major state energy conservation projects and funds from the sale of treasury bonds were used to support 111 key energy-saving projects. We launched an energy-saving campaign in about 1,000 large industrial enterprises high in energy consumption, to strengthen energy conservation management in these enterprises. The list of energy- and water-saving products subject to government procurement was adjusted, and the scope of mandatory energy efficiency labeling was expanded. Demand side management of power was enhanced. The policy of charging differential electricity rates for highly energy-consuming industries was tightened, and several local governments imposed surcharges for electricity used in excess of quotas. A widespread publicity campaign to promote energy conservation and environmental protection was launched, resulting in a notable increase in people's awareness of the issue. The first group of pilot projects for a circular economy were launched.
Greater efforts were made in environmental protection and ecological improvement. Clean production was widely promoted and the government released a state list of technical guidance and a system of assessment indicators for clean production in key industries. Work was undertaken to control urban water pollution and pollution caused by industrial wastewater in areas along the Huai and Songhua rivers. The percentage of treated urban sewage and safely handled urban household waste reached 56% and 54% respectively, 4 and 2.3 percentage points higher than the year before. Desulphurization facilities were installed in thermal power plants with a total power generating capacity of 104 million kilowatts. Growth in sulfur dioxide emission and chemical oxygen demand dropped by 11.3 and 4.4 percentage points respectively. A total of 267,000 hectares of farmland were returned to forests and 10 million hectares of livestock pastures to grasslands last year.
6. Further progress was made in reform and opening up.
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