BEIJING -- Chinese regulators have released an action plan on boosting industrial energy efficiency, detailing major targets and tasks to optimize the energy structure as the country takes steady steps to spur green transformation.

By 2025, China aims to achieve a comprehensive improvement in the energy efficiency of major industrial sectors, a substantial rise in energy efficiency in key areas such as data centers, and an increase in the proportion of green low-carbon energy use, according to the plan jointly released by six government departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Energy efficiency in sectors including iron and steel, petrochemicals, non-ferrous metals and building materials will have reached an internationally advanced level by then, according to the plan.

By 2025, China aims to cut the energy consumption per unit of the added value of the country's large industrial enterprises with annual revenues of more than 20 million yuan (about $2.99 million) by 13.5 percent from the 2020 level.

Earlier data showed that the energy consumption per unit of added value of China's large industrial enterprises in 2021 dropped 5.6 percent from the previous year, after logging a 16-percent decline in the 2016-2020 period.

In an explanatory statement on the plan, the MIIT predicted that China's energy demand is set to grow for the 2021-2025 period as the proportion of the energy-consuming manufacturing industry will remain stable.

The ministry took note of China's energy usage problems, including a low level of green energy use structure and weak links in technological innovation and equipment application concerning energy efficiency.

The plan set a slew of targets for a wide range of industries, seeking to bring the proportion of new energy-efficient motors to over 70 percent by 2025 and that of new energy-efficient transformers to more than 80 percent.

The power usage efficiency of new large and super-large data centers will be less than 1.3, and the proportion of electric energy in industrial areas will reach 30 percent of terminal energy consumption, according to the plan.

The move came as boosting industrial energy efficiency is deemed crucial to achieving the goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.

According to the International Energy Agency, energy efficiency improvement remains the most important and direct way to achieve large-scale carbon dioxide emission reduction, with a contribution of about 37 percent.

In China, industrial energy consumption accounts for about 65 percent of the total energy use.

China has announced that it would strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.