BEIJING, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- China has designed a system to monitor nationwide efforts to conserve energy and reduce emissions, as the world's fourth largest economy starts to reflect upon the cost of its double-digit growth.

    Local authorities will have to follow rules that will guide and measure efforts toward meeting national energy and pollution targets set for 2010, according to a government circular released Friday.

    Those who do not meet the targets could be exempted from promotion, as progress in environmental protection will be a key standard by which officials and heads of state-owned enterprises are judged, it said.

    Although China aims to cut energy consumption for every 10,000 yuan (1,298 U.S. dollars) of GDP by 20 percent by 2010, with emissions to drop 10 percent, the targets for 2006 and the first half of this year were missed by most pro...

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