China to promote greener industry in 2015

China will promote clean industrial production in 2015 by encouraging green technology and more economic use of resources to protect the environment, authorities said on Wednesday.

The central government will initiate a program that aims to reduce pollution, cleanse industries and prompt sustainable development in 2015, according to a statement published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Companies will consume 4 million fewer tons of coal by the end of 2015 after the ministry helps them with technological upgrades, it said.

Coal makes up the majority of China's energy consumption, accounting for 66 percent in 2014. But its significance is falling as the country has started to encourage the use of clean energy.

Emission cuts including 70,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, 60,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, 40,000 tons of industrial fumes and 20,000 volatile organic compounds will be made in the year, according to the MIIT.

The program was partly prompted by worsening smog in China in recent years, triggering appeals for stronger measures to clean the environment.

The authority will prioritize aid to factories in North China's Beijing and neighboring Tianjin Municipality and Hebei Province, as well as those in the Yangtze River Delta industrial zone.

Those areas have been the worst affected by smog in the country.

In addition, the authority promised to set up a platform to track energy use by more than 2,000 major industrial consumers nationwide.