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OECD tells China to green up

PARIS, March 22 (UPI) -- China needs to enact major reforms to move closer to establishing a greener economy, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said.

The OECD said it expects Chinese gross domestic production to grow 8.5 percent in 2013 and 8.9 percent next year. It said China has made "tremendous progress" in inclusive growth but needs to embrace reforms like taxing carbon and deregulating energy prices to ensure a greener economy.

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"Energy conservation should be encouraged, through higher excise duties on gasoline and deregulated prices," the OECD said. "Standards for motor vehicle emissions and fuel quality should be further tightened."

China last year consumed nearly 5 trillion kilowatts of electricity. Xue Jing, an analyst at the China Electricity Council, said power consumption is expected to grow 7.5 percent in 2013 compared to a 5.5 percent growth rate last year, the official Xinhua news agency reports.

The reports follow an announcement from energy company PetroChina that crude oil output increased 3.4 percent year-on-year to 916.5 million barrels. Net profit, however, declined 13.3 percent last year to $18.3 billion when compared to the previous year.

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