China and Japan enhanced cooperation in environment protection with dozens of new contracts signed Sunday.

The two sides clinched 42 deals involving cooperation in sewage treatment construction, electric waste disposal and energy saving research.

The deals were made during the fourth Sino-Japan energy saving and environment protection forum which began on Sunday.

Energy saving highlights the bilateral economic ties, as Japan has accumulated rich experiences in the area, said Xie Zhenhua, vice minister in charge of China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

Masayuki Naoshima, Japan's industry minister, said Japan has strong desire to push forward the bilateral ties in energy saving and hopes the technology transfer will benefit China.

To facilitate the mutual exchanges, said Chen Jian, China's vice minister of commerce, the governments should work out more policy incentives to encourage enterprises to engage in technological innovation and trade.

China has been pushing for a national energy saving campaign to address the worsening conflicts between economic growth and environmental deterioration.

President Hu Jintao unveiled a number of climate targets and plans in his address to the opening session of the United Nations climate summit in September, including a promise that China would cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product by "a notable margin" by 2020 from the 2005 level.

China is also striving to develop renewable energy and nuclear energy, and increase the share of non-fossil fuels in energy consumption to about 15 percent by 2020, which was at about nine percent at the end of 2008.