In a circular issued on April 4, the State Council asked its departments and provincial-level authorities to spend more effort on designing and enforcing energy efficiency standards.

It asked these authorities to speed up the pace of formulating or revising compulsory energy efficiency standards, and ensure that companies meet such standards before they enter an industry, so that these standards will spur the whole industry to upgrade itself.

The State Council set a goal that by 2020, the country should have an advanced system of energy efficiency standards that suit the country’s situation, and that 80 percent of the standards will reach an advanced level in the world. It is also planned that by 2020, all companies in major energy-intensive industries will control their energy consumption within the upper limits the authorities set for the industries they are in.

The State Council asked the departments and authorities to formulate or revise energy efficiency standards, and update new or revised standards on a regular basis.

Also, when the time is right, the departments and authorities should make the performance of leading companies a benchmark and entry threshold for energy-intensive industries and industries with high surplus capacity.

The benchmarks should eliminate at least 20 percent of outdated products and outdated capacity in these industries.

The State Council also asked the authorities to speed up the pace of formulating or revising energy efficiency standards in various industries, including the iron and steel industry, petrochemical industry, architecture industry and transportation industry.

It asked the authorities to take part in the formulation of international energy efficiency standards, and help China and its major trading partners recognize each other’s standards by strengthening bilateral or multilateral cooperation.

The authorities should strictly enforce compulsory energy efficiency standards and promote non-compulsory ones. They should strengthen the supervision to ensure the compulsory ones are implemented.