Most of the 998 high-energy-consuming enterprises achieved their energy-saving goals of last year, saving 38.17 million tons of standard coal aggregately, said the National Development and Reform Commission on Wednesday.

According to the commission, these companies have signed energy-saving commitments with their local provincial governments, and 92.2 percent of them, or 879 enterprises completed their commitments.

Some 953 of these enterprises passed their local governments' annual assessments, three went bankrupt, 15 were merged, 26 stopped production and one greatly changed its energy consumption method.

China has launched a campaign to mobilize about 1,000 enterprises to save energy since 2006, which is an important measure of the country’s energy saving and emission control plan.

These enterprises invested over 50 billion yuan ($7.3 billion) in technology innovation and implemented over 8,000 innovative projects to save energy in 2007, estimated the commission.

(China Daily September 4, 2008)