Energy conservation and carbon reduction are important measures to promote carbon peak and carbon neutrality, accelerate the green transformation of development mode, and provide important support for maintaining national energy security and promoting industrial upgrading. In recent years, China has vigorously promoted the green and low-carbon transformation of industries such as steel, non-ferrous metals, petrochemicals, and building materials. The outline of the 15th Five Year Plan proposes to promote energy conservation and carbon reduction in key areas. Recently, the "Opinions of the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council on Doing a Better Job in Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction at a Higher Level and Quality" was released, emphasizing the "comprehensive improvement of energy efficiency levels in key industries such as steel, non-ferrous metals, petrochemicals, chemicals, and building materials". This issue invites experts to discuss relevant issues.

 

Energy conservation and carbon reduction assist in green and low-carbon transformation

 

Why promote energy conservation and carbon reduction? How effective has China been in promoting energy conservation and carbon reduction in traditional industries since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China?

 

Wu Bin (Director and Researcher of the Technology Innovation and Strategic Management Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences): Energy is the lifeline of the national economy, and the production and utilization of energy are closely related to the ecological environment. Energy activities are the main source of carbon emissions, accounting for over 80% of China's total carbon dioxide emissions. In recent years, the external dependence on crude oil and natural gas has exceeded 70% and 40% respectively. Deepening the promotion of energy conservation and carbon reduction, improving energy utilization efficiency, not only helps to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, but also is an inherent requirement for coordinated development and security.

 

Traditional industries are the mainstay of manufacturing, mainly focused on raw material processing, with generally high energy consumption. According to data from 2023, industrial energy consumption in China accounts for 66.6% of the total energy consumption in the society, while manufacturing energy consumption accounts for approximately 57%. Among them, industries such as chemical raw material and chemical product manufacturing, non-metallic mineral products, black metal smelting and rolling processing, and non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing account for 77.4% of the energy consumption in the manufacturing industry. Overall, the consumption of fossil fuels is the main source of global carbon emissions, and the energy consumption of traditional industries in China also mainly comes from fossil fuels, which is a key area for energy conservation and carbon reduction.

 

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has steadily promoted energy conservation and carbon reduction, and accelerated the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. During the 13th Five Year Plan period, China implemented a dual control system for total energy consumption and intensity, and promoted energy conservation in industries, buildings, and other fields. The Comprehensive Work Plan for Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction in the 13th Five Year Plan decomposes the total energy consumption and intensity control targets to each province (region, city), proposes energy-saving targets for major industries and departments, emphasizes that "the energy utilization efficiency of key energy consuming industries such as electricity, steel, non-ferrous metals, building materials, petroleum and petrochemical, chemical industry, etc. has reached or approached the world's advanced level", and improving energy efficiency has become the key to energy conservation and consumption reduction in traditional industries. By strengthening the constraints of energy-saving and environmental protection standards and indicators, China has resolved overcapacity in traditional industries. From 2016 to 2020, a total of over 150 million tons of excess steel production capacity and about 300 million tons of excess cement production capacity have been withdrawn, and strip steel has been fully cleared. We will vigorously implement energy-saving technology transformation projects, promote energy efficiency benchmarking in key energy consuming industries, and carry out energy-saving and low-carbon actions for tens of thousands of enterprises. In 2021, the comprehensive energy consumption of unit products such as steel, electrolytic aluminum, cement clinker, and flat glass will be reduced by more than 9% compared to 2012. The coal consumption per kilowatt hour of thermal power units in China will be reduced to 302.5 grams of standard coal, all of which are at the world's leading level. Actively promoting the utilization of renewable resources, the amount of scrap steel utilized in 2020 was 260 million tons, and the production of recycled non-ferrous metals accounted for 23.5% of the total production of ten types of non-ferrous metals in China, significantly enhancing the ability of resource recycling.

 

In 2020, non fossil energy accounted for 15.9% of primary energy consumption in China, an increase of 6.2 percentage points from 2012. Traditional industries have achieved significant results in energy conservation and consumption reduction, but accelerating development still faces constraints in energy resources and the environment. During the 14th Five Year Plan period, China actively and steadily promoted carbon peak and carbon neutrality. The regulation of energy consumption and intensity gradually shifted towards dual control of carbon emissions, and traditional industries further coordinated energy conservation and carbon reduction. The Action Plan for Peaking Carbon Emissions Before 2030 deploys the "Energy Conservation, Carbon Reduction, and Efficiency Enhancement Action" to promote energy-saving and carbon reduction transformation in industries such as electricity, steel, non-ferrous metals, building materials, and petrochemicals, and improve energy and resource utilization efficiency. In 2024, the State Council issued the "Action Plan for Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction from 2024 to 2025", which clarified the energy conservation and carbon reduction goals for industries such as steel, petrochemicals, non-ferrous metals, and building materials. The energy-saving and carbon reduction transformation of traditional industries is progressing in an orderly manner, implementing capacity replacement policies for high energy consuming industries, continuously optimizing industrial layout, and promoting coordinated development with renewable energy. Relying on the clean energy advantage of over 90% of green electricity installed capacity, Yunnan is promoting the integrated development of "green electricity+advanced manufacturing industry". By the end of 2025, the province's electrolytic aluminum production capacity will reach 6.5 million tons, ranking second in the country, and the total industrial output value of the green aluminum industry will exceed 200 billion yuan. At the same time, energy-saving and low-carbon technologies are accelerating their implementation and application. According to data from the National Development and Reform Commission, in the first three years of the 14th Five Year Plan, the proportion of energy efficiency benchmark level or above in industries such as steel, electrolytic aluminum, cement, oil refining, ethylene, and synthetic ammonia in China increased by an average of 6 percentage points. In 2024, the comprehensive energy consumption per unit product of the calcium carbide, synthetic ammonia, and electrolytic aluminum industries will decrease by 8.3%, 1.1%, and 2.8% respectively compared to 2020, and the cumulative standard coal consumption per kilowatt hour of thermal power generation will decrease by 1.1%.

 

During the 15th Five Year Plan period, China will achieve the goal of peaking carbon emissions. The outline of the 15th Five Year Plan emphasizes "coordinated development and emission reduction", making important arrangements for promoting energy conservation and carbon reduction in key areas, and setting a binding target of "reducing carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 17%". In recent years, the scale of China's green industry has continued to grow, the green technology innovation system has been continuously improved, and new energy sources such as photovoltaics and wind power have accelerated their development. The coverage of the carbon emission trading market has expanded from the power industry to the steel, cement, and aluminum smelting industries, covering more than 60% of the country's carbon emissions, creating favorable conditions for energy conservation and carbon reduction in traditional industries. It should also be noted that global climate change remains a prominent issue. The latest climate change monitoring by the National Climate Center shows that by 2025, the global average surface temperature will increase by 1.40 ℃ compared to pre industrial levels (1850-1900). At the same time, the EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism has been implemented, imposing carbon tariffs on high carbon products such as steel, aluminum, cement, fertilizers, and electricity entering the country, significantly increasing export cost pressure. Promoting energy conservation and carbon reduction in traditional industries to achieve greater effectiveness is a long and arduous task.