BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government has set aside another 10 billion yuan (1.33 billion U.S. dollars) this year to improve energy efficiency and cut pollutant discharges, sources with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Friday.

The move has brought the total annual investment for the purposes to 21.3 billion yuan.

The money is to be used to continue eliminating workshops with outdated production methods and help upgrade production technologies and the management of high energy-consuming and polluting industries.

Of the total, 9 billion yuan will be used to improve management of energy efficiency projects and the 10 major energy saving projects, including the environment-friendly, energy saving in government departments and organizations and oil efficiency and substitution programs. The money is 13 times more than the 2006 amount.

Last year, China's energy consumption for every 10,000 yuan of GDP dropped by just 1.23 percent, failing to meet the annual average goal of 4 percent. The failure was due to the fact that high energy-consuming and polluting industries continued to grow rapidly and contribute significantly to the country's annual economic growth, said Zhou Dadi, of the NDRC Energy Research Institute.

The investment appeared to have achieved better results, according to government figures.

From January to May, energy consumption per unit of GDP dropped2 percent from the same period last year, and emissions of sulfur dioxide fell by 0.6 percent.

However, high-energy-consuming and polluting industries continued to expand rapidly in the first half, according to the NDRC.

China had much yet to do to improve its economic growth pattern, said Han Yongwen, secretary-general of the NDRC.