The output of China's environmental protection industry will grow at an average annual rate of 15 percent and will reach 900 billion yuan ($130 billion) by 2015, the 21st Century Economic Herald reported Friday, citing a draft development plan for both energy-saving and environmental protection industries.

The draft plan initiated by the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, has gone through three rounds of opinion solicitation, and the final version is likely to be released this year, sources with the China Association of Environmental Protection Industry told the paper.

By the end of 2008, the output of China's environmental protection industry was 480 billion yuan, with 350,000 enterprises employing 3 million people, according to the paper.

An earlier research report released by the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the State Administration of Environmental Protection had said that the output of China's environmental protection industry would hit 2 trillion yuan by the end of its 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) period.
A source from the environmental protection association attributed the discrepancies in the figures to differences in the scopes they cover, as authorities have not given a clear definition of what the energy-saving and environmental protection industries are so far, the paper said

The source explained that the 900 billion output targets only traditional environmental protection segments, such as water treatment, solid waste disposal, air pollution control and environment monitoring.

As an emerging strategic industry, the environmental protection industry will receive government support in the coming five years, especially segments like urban sewage treatment, waste disposal infrastructure, key pollution control projects, and cleaner production demonstration projects, the paper said.

In early April, gesep.com, an information and service provider for energy-saving and environmental protection industries, released a research report, which showed that the total output of China's energy-saving and environmental protection industries reached 1.7 trillion yuan in 2009, accounting for 5 percent of last year's GDP.

The environmental protection industry took up 26 percent of the output, the energy-saving industry 14 percent and the resources recycling industry 26 percent, the survey showed.

It also predicted that China's energy-saving and environmental protection market would reach 2.8 trillion yuan in 2012.