Dwindling coal supplies have prompted Anhui province to limit electricity use by more than 5,000 local enterprises at peak times to allow residents to have supply, Xinhua reported.

Faced with growing water demands from the country’s parched north, China is speeding up work on its massive south-to-north diversion project, Xinhua said. Water is to be diverted from the Yangtze river northward by three routes.

Chinese hydropower lobbyists are calling for construction of the world’s biggest hydro-electric project on the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra (Yarlung Tsangpo) river as part of a huge expansion of renewable power in the Himalayas, according to The Guardian. The call comes despite the likely concerns of India and Pakistan, which access water and power from the river.

The government began an investigation of rising food costs and threatened to punish price gouging or misconduct in commodities trading, the Associated Press reported. Food prices rose 5.9% in April over a year earlier, driven by an increase of 14.9% for vegetables and 16.4% for fruit.

China will aim to meet its five-year energy-saving and emission-reduction goals through 2010 ahead of global climate talks at the end of this year, Reuters quoted the country’s top climate negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, as saying. Not doing so, Xie noted, would mean “we would lose the trust from the international community and be pressured” during negotiations in Mexico.

In a blow to any lingering hopes that the world could reach a deal in Mexico, Xie said that negotiators aim to seal a binding pact on global warming by the end of 2011, Reuters said.

In Beijing for high-level talks and a climate-change seminar, US climate envoy Todd Stern said it was “hugely important” that all countries accept outside review of their greenhouse-gas emissions, Agence France-Presse reported. China has rejected such calls.

The US Energy Information Administration predicts a jump of 43% in carbon-dioxide emissions globally by 2035, according to Scientific American. The EIA also said it expected a 49% rise in energy use, mostly because China, India and other developing nations will be churning out steel, building more power plants and driving more cars.

China may face a surplus of fuel including diesel next year as refiners add oil-processing capacity, a report in China Daily said.

On Beijing’s far west side, a developer is racing to demolish a neighborhood before new rules to protect citizens from unchecked development are passed, The New York Times reported. About 700 homeowners are refusing to move until they get fair compensation.