The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has been stepping up efforts to develop the "Development Plan for Energy-saving and Environmental Protection Industries". NDRC will gradually launch four relevant policies to improve the development of environmental protection industry. The gross production of China's energy-saving and environmental protection industries will account for 7%-8% of the total GDP and will become a new pillar industry by 2015. By the end of 2008, China's energy-saving and environmental protection industries totaled 1.55 trillion Yuan ($227 billion), accounting for 5.17 percent of the country's GDP, according to the NDRC.

　　According to officials of NDRC, the environmental protection industry will become the new pillar industry in the future. The main tasks in the near future are to stimulate the domestic demand and to achieve the energy-saving and emission-reduction target of the 11th Five-Year-Plan. Meanwhile, to promote the competitiveness of the environmental protection industry and to establish the strategic new industry would be the long-term goal.

　　The three major tasks of developing environmental protection industry are: to promote energy-saving industry; to enhance the resource-recycling industry and to develop in large-scale the technical equipment, products and services related to energy-saving and environmental protection. Consequently, China will gradually develop relevant policies in four areas: firstly, to implement key-project-strategy to meet the funding requirement for reducing the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2020 by 40 to 45 per cent compared with the level of 2005. It is a vital point; secondly, to further improve the policy system; thirdly, to set up a series of national engineering research centers and laboratories in the fields of energy-saving and environmental protection and increase the investment in R&D in the above fields; and fourthly, to enhance the implementation of laws and regulations to build a fair and competitive market to stimulate new industries.