China's Pollution Goals Not Met, Agency Says

BEIJING, March 5 (Reuters) - China's continuing reliance on heavy industry meant it failed to meet its own targets for cleaning its air and water in 2011, the head of the top planning agency told journalists on Monday.

China, which is increasingly dependent on imported energy and suffers from soil, water and air pollution that is damaging public health, wants to use energy more efficiently, and cut emissions.

But it missed about half the targets set by Beijing for 2011, including energy intensity, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, and a measure of water pollution.

"There are a lot of complicated reasons for failing to meet the targets. The biggest is that we have not transformed our economic development model," said Zhang Ping, head of the National Development and Reform Commission.

"Our means of growth are still too coarse and our structural adjustment is lagging behind."

China's energy consumption per unit of GDP dropped by 2 percent in 2011, short of a 3.5 percent target, frustrating those who are attempting to change the economy so that it wastes less, and is not as dependent on coal and imported oil.

The failure to meet the energy target, as well as lower-than-expected use of hydropower due to drought, contributed to a poor showing on sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, Zhang said.

Sulphur dioxide emissions fell by 2.2 percent, below the 2.9 percent goal, while nitrogen oxide, which was intended to fall by 1.5 percent, actually rose by 5.7 percent.

For many Chinese enterprises, it has historically been cheaper to pollute and pay the resultant fine than to install more modern, emissions-reducing equipment.

China also missed its target for chemical oxygen demand, a measure of water pollution. That dropped by 2 percent in 2011, rather than by 2.5 percent.

The targets for reducing energy use and emissions are central to China's arguments internationally that it is reining in pollution.

Pollution is also a growing source of concern for China's prosperous urban residents, as well as a contributing factor in rural unrest. (Reporting By Lucy Hornby; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)