On October 24 this year, the CPC Central Committee and The State Council issued the Opinions on Implementing the New Development Concept in a Complete, accurate and comprehensive way to Achieve Carbon peak and Carbon Neutrality (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions).On October 26, The State Council issued the Action Plan to peak Carbon emissions by 2030 (hereinafter referred to as the Action Plan).As a programmatic document, the Opinions and action Plan are the "1" and the first "N" in China's carbon peak and carbon neutral "1+N" policy system.The Opinions are the systematic planning and overall deployment of carbon peak and carbon neutral work by the CPC Central Committee, and the Action Plan is the implementation path and major measures for concrete implementation, which is of great guiding significance for the iron and steel industry to promote green, low-carbon and high-quality development.

Iron and steel is the foundation of industry and the basic material industry of national economy. A strong and competitive iron and steel industry is the inevitable requirement for China to build a modern socialist country in an all-round way."Opinions" and "action plan" of the introduction of the iron and steel industry has put forward higher requirements.

Implement the general policy of "Five Principles" to take precise measures to control coal and reduce carbon

The five principles of "national overall planning, priority to economy, two-wheel drive, unimpeded internal and external flow, and risk prevention" proposed in the Opinions have also become the general principles of the Action Plan.The Action Plan further emphasizes the requirements of "overall deployment, categorized policies", "systematic promotion, key breakthroughs" and "steady, orderly and safe carbon reduction".National economic construction of steel products demand remains high, steel industry needs high strength, high performance, functional products of higher quality;The iron and steel industry, as one of the industries with the highest proportion of carbon emissions in the manufacturing industry, is also a key industry to support the realization of the industrial and national carbon peak target. It must be clearly aware of the difficulties, key points and urgency to achieve carbon peak, precise policy, and set scientific and objective goals and tasks.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the energy efficiency of key industries will be significantly improved, and the growth of coal consumption will be strictly controlled.During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the energy efficiency of key energy-consuming industries reached international advanced levels, the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption increased further, and coal consumption gradually decreased.At the same time, the "Force for Action" has set quantitative constraint targets for 2025 and 2030, with the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption increasing to around 20% and 25% respectively.By 2025, carbon dioxide emission per unit of GDP will be 18% lower than that of 2020, and by 2030, carbon dioxide emission per unit of GDP will be over 65% lower than that of 2005.

In promoting the substitution of coal consumption and the implementation of coal reduction and coal restriction, iron and steel enterprises have made remarkable achievements by eliminating backward coal consumption technology and equipment, implementing coal reduction substitution in new projects, reducing the coal consumption of their own power plants, improving the efficiency of coal utilization and promoting the efficient conversion of energy.In the next 10 years, the iron and steel industry will face more stringent coal control, coal limit policy requirements, the need to continue to improve energy efficiency, dig the coal control potential of each process, reduce the proportion of coal, complete the task of coal control.

At present, the steel industry basic focus on renewable energy to replace the non-production link, is expected to 2030 years ago, 2025 years ago, in particular, non-fossil energy contribution to the carbon steel industry directly drop will remain low, but as the clean energy supply structure of low carbon, indirect emissions will be reduced, the steel industry carbon up to the peak power for industry.

The "ten actions" pointed out the direction of the steel carbon peak orderly progress

To achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality is an extensive and profound economic and social reform. It is necessary not only to accomplish short-term action tasks through "tough battles", but also to achieve long-term goals based on "protracted battles". It is necessary to scientifically plan the priorities of various regions and industries to achieve carbon peak, and ensure that the overall national goal is achieved in an optimal way.

Among the "Ten actions to peak carbon", the green and low-carbon energy transformation action focuses on the transformation of energy production and consumption 

structure;The action of saving energy, reducing carbon and increasing efficiency closely follows the "saving priority" to improve the dual control degree of energy consumption and improve energy efficiency;Carbon peak action in the industrial sector will implement specific tasks to each industrial sector, is the guidance of all industries and industrial enterprises carbon peak action program;Urban and rural construction carbon peak action, transportation green and low-carbon action, circular economy to help reduce carbon action from green building, construction, transportation sector electrification and decarbonization, industry coordination and other dimensions, the "Action Plan" will be implemented in all aspects of production and life;The green and low-carbon scientific and technological innovation action plays a supporting and leading role in energy, industry, transportation, construction, finance and other sectors, and is also the core driving force to achieve the goal of carbon peak. The action to consolidate and improve carbon sink capacity focuses on the stability and increase of ecosystem, and the green and low-carbon national action advocates green ideas and low-carbon lifestyle.The orderly and orderly carbon peak action in each region is the implementation of the principle of "adhering to the classification of policies, measures taken according to local conditions"."Ten actions to peak Carbon" has clarified the road map of China's carbon peak and carbon neutral work.

Clean and low-carbon energy for a long time to improve energy efficiency

The green and low-carbon energy transformation Campaign emphasizes the replacement, transformation and upgrading of coal consumption, accelerating the pace of coal reduction, strictly and rationally controlling the growth of coal consumption during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, and gradually reducing coal consumption during the 15th Five-year Plan period.We will reduce and limit coal use in key coal industries.Energy conservation and carbon reduction synergistic action put forward the perfect amount of energy consumption intensity and double control degree, comprehensively promote energy-saving management ability, the implementation of energy conservation and carbon reduction of key projects, promote key energy-using equipment, strengthen energy saving and efficiency increasing new infrastructure such as energy saving carbon reduction path, for iron and steel industry is up to the double control energy consumption, energy efficiency, energy management, puts forward the new requirements.

In recent years, the iron and steel industry has made breakthroughs in structural energy conservation, technological energy conservation and management energy conservation. Key statistics show that the comprehensive energy consumption per ton of steel of iron and steel enterprises has maintained a downward trend and will drop to 545 kg standard coal in 2020, 4.64% lower than that in 2015 and 9.17% lower than that in 2010.The ratio of scrap steel continues to increase, energy-saving technologies represented by waste heat recovery and utilization technology of sintering waste gas, equalized pressure gas recovery technology of blast furnace top, regenerative combustion technology of heating furnace, etc. are widely applied, and the energy tube center gradually steps forward to be intelligent and interconnects with production and environmental protection systems.In the future, energy saving work is not only the initiative measures taken by steel enterprises to reduce costs and increase efficiency, but also will face the implementation of carbon evaluation of new projects, the normalization of clean production audit, energy conservation supervision and other mandatory control, energy conservation work has a long way to go, and will become a strong hand to reduce carbon.

We will deepen supply-side reform by adopting multiple measures to reach peak levels

Carbon peak action in the industrial field is a programmatic document for the low-carbon development of China's energy-intensive industries, as well as the basis for the iron and steel industry to formulate the "double carbon" road map, construction drawing and timetable.The industrial sector should accelerate green and low-carbon transformation and high-quality development, and strive to be the first to achieve carbon peak.The iron and steel industry is an energy-intensive industry with many energy media and large total energy consumption. It is also subject to the dependence of process technology on fossil fuels, so the task of carbon reduction is heavy and difficult. It is highlighted in the action of industrial peak carbon reduction, which fully reflects the significance of carbon peak carbon reduction in the iron and steel industry to achieve carbon peak carbon reduction in the industrial field.From the overall path, the steel industry carbon peak is divided into the following aspects:

First, we will deepen supply-side structural reform in the steel industry, strictly implement capacity replacement, strictly prohibit new capacity, promote stock optimization, and eliminate backward capacity.We will promote trans-regional and trans-ownership mergers and reorganizations of steel enterprises to increase industry concentration.We will improve the distribution of productivity and continue to reduce steel production capacity, especially in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surrounding areas.In line with a series of supply-side structural reforms released since 2016, the top-level design focuses on cutting overcapacity and promoting restructuring, emphasizing the importance of capacity replacement, stock optimization, eliminating backwardness, and increasing concentration.At the same time, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surrounding areas have been identified as key areas to continue to reduce steel production capacity.

Second, we will promote the structural optimization of the steel industry and the replacement of clean energy, vigorously promote the demonstration of non-blast furnace ironmaking technology, improve the recycling and utilization level of scrap steel resources, and promote the all-scrap electric furnace process.This covers two dimensions of process structure optimization and energy structure adjustment. The proposed "promoting non-blast furnace iron-making technology demonstration, improving the recycling and utilization level of scrap steel resources, and promoting all-scrap electric furnace" are all collaborative optimization of process structure and energy structure.Non-blast furnace iron making reduces the dependence on coke, scrap recycling is the replacement of pig iron, the implementation of all scrap electric furnace has a clear provision of iron and steel materials into the furnace, to avoid the electric furnace adding hot iron, pig iron blocks and other "edge ball" behavior.

Third, we will promote the use of advanced and applicable technologies, tap the potential for energy conservation and carbon reduction, encourage combined production by tempering, explore trials and demonstrations for hydrogen metallurgy and integrated capture and utilization of CARBON dioxide, and promote the development of low-grade waste heat heating.Increasing the adoption of mature technologies to improve overall energy efficiency;Encourage combined production of tempering and strengthen the extension of industrial chain;Exploring and developing cutting-edge technologies such as hydrogen metallurgy and CCUS (carbon capture, utilization and storage);Promote low-grade waste heat heating, give full play to energy conversion function, and realize coordinated carbon reduction.

For the non-ferrous and building materials industries, the carbon Peak Campaign has set goals of reducing energy consumption per unit and building energy management centers, but has not set relevant requirements for the steel industry.On the one hand, this reflects the affirmation of the achievements of energy saving and carbon reduction in the steel industry. On the other hand, it also shows that the Action Plan has fully considered the energy consumption increment caused by product upgrading, environmental protection improvement, industrial chain extension and other factors.

We will promote the coordinated transformation of upstream and downstream industries

The iron and steel industry has the "three major functions" of product manufacturing, energy conversion and social waste consumption, which determines its own low-carbon attribute: producing green and low-carbon products with high strength, corrosion resistance, long life, lightweight and recyclable, and realizing carbon reduction in the whole life cycle of basic materials;Coupled with the development of building materials, chemical industry, machinery and other industries, make full use of iron and steel by-product resources, improve the energy efficiency of the whole society;Extend the industrial chain, promote the integration of industries and industries and cities, and realize the coordinated optimization of energy and resources.The "three major functions" are fully reflected in the key tasks of the Action Plan.The green and low-carbon development of the steel industry will play an important role in the carbon peak action in urban and rural construction, transportation, circular economy and other fields.

Urban and rural construction carbon peak action proposed, vigorously develop prefabricated buildings, promote steel structure housing;We will accelerate the large-scale application of industrial waste heat heating.The Green and Low-carbon Transport Action proposes to promote low-carbon transformation of transport vehicles and equipment, and to integrate green and low-carbon concepts into the whole process of transport infrastructure planning, construction, operation and maintenance.Improving the proportion of clean transportation, promoting the transportation of new energy vehicles, "rotary iron" and "rotary water" are the inevitable requirements of ultra-low emissions transformation of the steel industry. The green and low carbonization of steel used for infrastructure promotes steel enterprises to actively develop green and low carbon products and reduce carbon emissions in the whole life cycle.The circular economy is also closely related to the iron and steel industry, such as industrial surplus pressure and heat, waste gas and liquid waste residue resource utilization, solid waste mixing, large-scale, high-value utilization, comprehensive utilization of renewable resources, the iron and steel industry will be an important implementation subject.The iron and steel industry will give full play to the "three major functions" to promote the upstream and downstream industrial and supply chains to achieve green and low-carbon circular development.

Low carbon development road steel industry forge ahead

The central government has made it clear that it will adhere to the national policy of "playing a chess game" to correct the campaign of carbon reduction, rather than adopt a one-size-fits-all approach.The realization of carbon peak in the steel industry is an inevitable trend to rebuild the balance between supply and demand and jointly promote the high-quality development of the industry. The "double control" of production capacity and energy consumption is an important measure to promote the first carbon peak.As the domestic steel demand enters the peak arc zone, the production efficiency and energy utilization efficiency are constantly improving. The difficulty for the steel industry to achieve the "double carbon" goal lies in the depth of low carbonization after the carbon peak. Environmental protection, energy, carbon emissions and other indicators will be used as hard constraint indicators to measure the development quality and development potential of enterprises.In this regard, we suggest that steel enterprises should closely track the policy trend, correctly understand the policy orientation, systematically find out the bottom line, improve management ability, play steadily, scientifically and objectively formulate goals, avoid formalism, "swarm" type blind promotion.

The realization of the "dual carbon" goal is a long-term, complex and arduous task. We should follow the Guidance of the Opinions and the Action Plan, start from the existing work of continuously promoting energy conservation, emission reduction and ultra-low emissions, strengthen carbon data accounting, do a good job in carbon asset management, and lay a solid foundation for orderly progress.At the same time, it should strengthen coordination with upstream and downstream industries, domestic and foreign resources, make full use of policy, technology, financial and other means to promote green, healthy and sustainable development.