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The assessment results regarding enterprises’ efforts in energy conservation and emission reduction will be announced this month; those that fail to meet the targets will be held accountable. **Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission,** and **Zhang Lijun, deputy head of the Environmental Protection Administration,** answered journalists’ questions on environmental resources, as well as energy conservation and emission reduction issues. Photo by Xinhua News Agency. **Xie Zhenhua said yesterday that this month, provincial governments will announce the performance of a thousand key enterprises in terms of energy conservation and emission reduction. In May and June, the State Council will publish reports on the performance of all provincial governments in this regard, and those regions and enterprises that fail to meet their targets will be held accountable.** Listed companies must take responsibility for the environment. Yesterday, at a press conference held during the first meeting of the 11th Ren Congress, Xie Zhenhua said that in May and June this year, the State Council will release information on energy conservation and emission reduction efforts in various provincial-level governments. Provinces and key enterprises that fail to complete their tasks must provide an explanation, make corrections within a set time limit, and shall not be eligible for any awards or recognition this year, nor shall they receive any other honorary titles. Last November, the State Council issued implementation plans and guidelines for evaluating energy conservation and emission reduction efforts, requiring that the performance of energy conservation and emission reduction by provincial people’s governments as well as 1,000 key energy-consuming enterprises be tracked, monitored, and evaluated on an annual basis. The results of the evaluation will serve as an important basis for implementing responsibility and accountability systems. Xie Zhenhua said that for high-energy-consuming projects launched by regions and enterprises that have failed to meet their targets, approval must be halted and regional quotas imposed. The final results are to be submitted to the organizational departments and the State-owned Assets Commission as an important part of the performance evaluation for various provinces; this is a key element of the accountability system. He said that in accordance with the newly enacted Energy Conservation Law, as well as the already implemented Environmental Protection Law and other relevant laws and regulations, energy efficiency assessments and environmental impact evaluations must be carried out for all new construction projects. All listed companies must be responsible for the environment. Projects and enterprises that are harmful to the environment will not be able to go public. Promoting long-term environmental protection mechanisms: Zhang Lijun, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, also said at a press conference yesterday that China is highly confident in achieving the goal of reducing two major pollutants by 10% by the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan period. Zhang Tianjun revealed that in order to better define the goals for the 12th Five-Year Plan, the **Environmental Protection Administration is currently carrying out research on China’s environmental strategy. There are 29 specific topics under investigation, and progress has been made on some of them. Once the research is completed, its findings will be applied to the 12th Five-Year Plan for environmental protection as well as to long-term environmental protection efforts. Regarding the key measures for energy conservation and emission reduction in 2008, Xie Zhenhua said that the industrial structure will be further adjusted. By strictly controlling credit and land allocations, as well as implementing stricter assessments for energy efficiency and environmental protection, the growth of high-energy-consuming industries is curbed. It is understood that this year, 13 million kilowatts of small-scale thermal power plants will be shut down, while 50 million tons, 6 million tons, and 14 million tons of capacity in the cement, steel, and iron industries, as well as in other backward production areas, will be phased out. Xie Zhenhua said that last year, 5.43 billion yuan was invested in government bonds and 23.5 billion yuan in special fiscal funds to support energy conservation and emission reduction; this year, further investments will be made to focus on promoting such efforts in key enterprises and major projects. He said that this year various economic policies aimed at promoting energy conservation and emission reduction will be further improved to encourage enterprises to take proactive action. Tian Zhangjun also said that it is necessary to establish a long-term mechanism for environmental protection, to gradually introduce market-based operations for urban sewage treatment facilities, with payments made based on the volume of water that meets the required treatment standards. “No payment is made if the standards are not met, and a pollution fee must also be paid. ”