Officials in northwest China's Shaanxi Province are calling for more green investment and urging local governments not to sacrifice the environment on the altar of economic growth.

Yuan Chunqing, governor of Shaanxi Province, says that local governments in northern Shaanxi should carefully assess the environmental impact of investments, especially energy exploration projects, and should not promote those which threaten the environment. Yuan made the remark at the 11th Investment and Trade Forum for Cooperation between East and West China which kicked off on April 6 in Xi'an. Domestic investors have signed contracts worth nearly RMB172 billion up 36.7% from the previous year, at the forum.

According to Yuan, the underdeveloped western regions should be on the watch for industries seeking to transfer pollution from the east.

Waste water processing, healthy coal mine exploitation and other environmentally friendly programs were also the focus of the forum. Local media report that Climate Change Capital from Britain are going to invest US$500 million in the next five years into China's clean resource utilization and the company says that western China's actions in energy conservation has brought them great business opportunities.