The Foreign Investment Industrial Guidance Catalog for 2012 encourages foreign investment in strategic emerging industries, such as energy-saving and environmentally-friendly technologies, next-generation information technology, biotechnology, alternative energy, advanced materials, recycling industries, and alternative-fuel cars.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) publishes the highly anticipated Catalog annually. The Catalog outlines industries in which foreign investments will be encouraged, restricted or completely prohibited. Guidelines in the Catalog become effective January 30, 2012.

China will construct an offshore wind farm with an installed capacity of 300 megawatts (MW) in Leting County, north China's Hebei Province, making it the country's largest such project.

Under the program, the wind farm, built with a total investment of 5.76 billion yuan (914 million U.S. dollars), will comprise 100 units of 3MW offshore turbines. When it goes into operation, the wind farm will generate 752 million kwh of electric power annually.

China's new natural gas pricing system, which links gas prices to fuel oil and LPG prices, would benefit local producers and importers of piped and liquefied natural gas as well as promote domestic production, Bernstein Research said in a note Thursday.

The new pricing system will kick off in South China's Guangdong and Guangxi provinces. There is no clear timeline on when the pricing reform would be introduced to South China or when it would be extended to the other regions.

Despite the sluggish global economy, the global investment in clean energy increased 5% to $260bn in 2011, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The record figures are especially striking because they were achieved during a turbulent year for the world economy in general and for the clean energy sector in particular.

2011 saw a 36% investment growth in solar technology, to $136.6bn. That was almost double the investment in wind power, which decreased 17% on the previous year, to $74.9bn. Furthermore, U.S. clean energy investment moved back to the top, ahead of China for the first time since 2008.