Wen pledges iron fist as time is running out on pollution-control targets

Premier Wen Jiabao has issued a grim warning over the lack of progress in hitting Beijing's established target in its anti-pollution campaign, which has been billed as the country's key battlefield in fighting climate change.

At a national meeting on cutting energy waste and pollution, Wen vowed his government would take all the necessary measures in the next eight months to meet the ambitious five-year pollution-control targets by the end of this year.

He said despite limited progress in the past four years, cutting energy intensity by 20 per cent by 2010 - a goal Wen promised in 2006 - remained an arduous task, Xinhua reported.

'Especially in the first quarter of the year, six main energy-intensive industrial sectors - namely, power, iron and steel, nonferrous metals, building materials, chemicals, and petrochemical industries - have all seen a surge,' he said.

According to the report, energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product increased by 3.2 per cent in the first three months of the year, which has further dampened the hope of meeting the target.

But Wen's rather rare revelation of the bleak reality in pollution control came as little surprise to mainland experts and environmentalists.