Local governments in China have been ordered to buy more energy efficient products as part of the national drive to curb pollution and combat global warming, state press reported yesterday.

China's State Council, or cabinet, issued a statement yesterday calling for all local governments to place a higher priority on eco-friendly products in their public purchases, the China Daily reported.

Governments will be required to strictly follow a compulsory green procurement list, which was published in 2007 and includes nine types of items such as air conditioners and computers, it said.

Previously agencies could shop around for other goods if they could justify buying them on cost and energy-saving grounds, the report added.

China's public authorities are influential consumers. In 2005, the government had an annual budget of €32 billion or 1.6 per cent of the country's overall economy that year, the newspaper said.

Thanks to its strong spending power, the government has the capacity to expand the production of greener products into the mainstream market, it said.

Green goods remain a niche category as general consumers are less interested in them due to higher initial costs.

But government purchases can boost demand, which will stimulate greater and faster technological breakthroughs and help the products move into the mainstream markets by ultimately allowing lower unit costs and mass production.

China has come under growing pressure to improve energy efficiency as its dependence on imported energy has risen, while its environment has continued to deteriorate.

China also now ranks alongside the US as the world's biggest emitters of the greenhouse gases that are blamed for global warming.