Under The 1+N Policy System, How Does The Road To Low-carbon Development Of Steel Go?

On October 24 this year, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Opinions on the Complete, Accurate and Comprehensive Implementation of the New Development Concept to Do a Good Job in Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutralization" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"); on October 26, the State Council issued the "2030 Former Carbon Peak Action Plan" (hereinafter referred to as "action plan"). As a programmatic document, the "Opinions" and the "Action Plan" are the "1" and the first "N" in my country's carbon peak, carbon neutral and "1+N" policy system. The "Opinions" are the Party Central Committee’s systematic drawing and overall deployment of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. The "Action Plan" is a concrete implementation path and major measures, which are of great importance to the promotion of green, low-carbon and high-quality development of the steel industry. Guiding significance.

Iron and steel is the foundation of industry and the basic material industry of the national economy. A strong and competitive steel industry is an inevitable requirement for my country to build a modern socialist country in an all-round way. The publication of the "Opinions" and "Action Plan" puts forward higher requirements for the steel industry.

Implement the "Five Principles" general policy and implement precise policies to control coal and reduce carbon

The five principles of “national overall planning, saving priority, two-wheel drive, smooth internal and external communication, and risk prevention” put forward in the “Opinions” have also become the general guidelines of the “Action Plan”. The "Action Plan" further emphasized the requirements of "overall deployment, classified policy implementation," "systematic advancement, and key breakthroughs," "secure, orderly, and safe carbon reduction." The national economic construction still maintains a high demand for steel products, and the steel industry needs high-strength, high-performance, and functional higher-quality products; the steel industry, as one of the industries with the highest carbon emissions from the manufacturing industry, is also a supporting industry and The key industries to achieve the national carbon peak goal must clearly understand the difficulties, points and urgency of achieving carbon peak, implement precise policies, and set scientific and objective goals and tasks.

The "Action Plan" proposes that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the energy use efficiency of key industries will be greatly improved, and coal consumption growth will be strictly controlled; during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the energy use efficiency of key energy-consuming industries will reach the international advanced level, and non-fossil energy The proportion of consumption has further increased, and coal consumption has gradually decreased. At the same time, the "Power of Action" puts forward the quantitative constraint targets for 2025 and 2030, and the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption is increased to about 20% and 25% respectively; the carbon dioxide emission per unit of GDP in 2025 will be reduced by 18% compared with 2020. Annual carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP have dropped by more than 65% compared with 2005.

In terms of promoting coal consumption substitution and implementing coal reduction and coal restriction, iron and steel enterprises have adopted measures such as eliminating outdated coal-consuming technology and equipment, implementing coal reduction and substitution in new projects, reducing coal consumption in self-supplied power plants, improving coal utilization efficiency, and promoting efficient energy conversion. Significant results have been achieved. In the next 10 years, the steel industry will face more stringent coal control and coal restriction policy requirements, and it will need to continuously improve energy utilization efficiency, tap the potential of coal control in various processes, reduce the proportion of coal, and complete the task of coal control.

At present, the replacement of renewable energy in the steel industry is basically concentrated in the non-production links. It is expected that before 2030, especially before 2025, the contribution of non-fossil energy utilization to the direct carbon reduction of the steel industry will remain at a low level. The clean and low-carbon structure will reduce indirect emissions from the steel industry, which will help the industry reach its peak carbon.

"Ten Major Actions" pointed out the direction, and the steel carbon reached its peak in an orderly manner

Achieving carbon peaks and carbon neutrality is a broad and profound economic and social systemic change. It is necessary to accomplish short-term action tasks through "tough battles", and to achieve long-term goals based on "protracted wars", and scientifically plan various regions, The priority of each industry to achieve carbon peaks ensures that the best path to achieve the overall national goal.

In the “Top Ten Actions for Carbon Peaking”, the energy green and low-carbon transformation action focuses on the transformation of energy production and consumption structure; the energy-saving, carbon-reduction and efficiency-increasing action closely follows the “saving priority”, perfecting the dual control system of energy consumption, and improving energy efficiency; The carbon peaking action in the industrial sector implements specific tasks to various industrial sectors and is an action plan for guiding various industries and industrial enterprises to peak carbon; the carbon peaking action in urban and rural construction, the green and low-carbon transportation action, the circular economy boosting carbon reduction action, etc. From green building, construction, electrification and decarbonization of the transportation sector, and inter-industry coordination, the "Action Plan" is implemented in all aspects of production and life; green and low-carbon technological innovation actions have impacts on energy, industry, transportation, construction, Finance and other fields play a supporting and leading role, and are also the core driving force for achieving the goal of achieving carbon peaks. The consolidation and improvement of carbon sink capacity focuses on the stability of the ecosystem and the increase of sinks. The green and low-carbon national action advocates green concepts and low-carbon lifestyles. The orderly regional carbon peaking action is the implementation of the policy of "adhere to classified policies and adapt measures to local conditions". The "Top Ten Actions for Carbon Peaking" clarified the roadmap for my country's carbon peaking and carbon neutral work.

Use energy to clean and low carbon, and improve energy efficiency for a long time

Energy green and low-carbon transformation actions emphasize coal consumption substitution, transformation and upgrading, and accelerate the pace of coal reduction. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the growth of coal consumption will be strictly and rationally controlled, and gradually reduced during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period; and coal consumption restrictions will be reduced in key coal-using industries coal. The energy-saving, carbon-reduction and efficiency-increasing action proposes ways to improve the dual control system of energy consumption intensity and total amount, comprehensively improve energy-saving management capabilities, implement key energy-saving and carbon-reduction projects, promote energy-saving and efficiency-increasing of key energy-using equipment, and strengthen new infrastructure energy-saving and carbon-reduction paths. , Has put forward new requirements for dual energy consumption control, energy efficiency improvement, and energy management in the steel industry.

In recent years, the steel industry has made continuous breakthroughs in structural energy saving, technical energy saving, and management energy saving. The key statistics of the comprehensive energy consumption per ton of steel of iron and steel enterprises have maintained a downward trend. It will be reduced to 545 kg of standard coal in 2020, which is 4.64% lower than in 2015 and compared with 2010. The annual decrease was 9.17%. The scrap ratio continues to increase. Energy-saving technologies represented by sintering waste gas waste heat recovery technology, blast furnace top pressure equalizing gas recovery technology, and heating furnace regenerative combustion technology have been widely used. The energy management center is gradually moving towards intelligence, and Interconnection of environmental protection systems. In the future, energy-saving work will not only be an active measure taken by steel companies to reduce costs and increase efficiency, but will also face mandatory controls such as the implementation of carbon evaluations for new projects, normalization of cleaner production audits, and increased energy-saving supervision. Energy-saving work has a heavy responsibility. Far, and will become a powerful tool for reducing carbon emissions.

Deepen the supply-side reform, and take multiple measures to promote the peak

The carbon peaking action in the industrial sector is a programmatic document for the low-carbon development of my country's energy-intensive industries, and it is also the basis for the steel industry to formulate a "dual-carbon" road map, construction drawings, and timetable. The industrial sector should accelerate the green and low-carbon transformation and high-quality development, and strive to be the first to achieve carbon peaks. The iron and steel industry is an energy-intensive industry, with a large amount of energy media and a large amount of energy consumption. It is also subject to the dependence of process technology on fossil fuels. The task of reducing carbon is heavy and difficult. It has been highlighted in the industrial peaking action, which is fully reflected. The importance of carbon peaking in the iron and steel industry to the realization of carbon peaking in the industrial sector. From the perspective of the overall path, the carbon peak of the steel industry can be divided into the following aspects:

The first is to deepen the supply-side structural reform of the steel industry, strictly implement capacity replacement, strictly prohibit new capacity, promote inventory optimization, and eliminate outdated capacity. Promote cross-regional and cross-ownership mergers and reorganizations of steel companies to increase industry concentration. Optimize the layout of productivity, focus on Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas, and continue to reduce steel production capacity. The top-level design related to a series of supply-side structural reforms released since 2016 is in the same line, focusing on capacity reduction and reorganization, emphasizing the importance of capacity replacement, inventory optimization, elimination of backwardness, and improvement of concentration; at the same time; It is clear that the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding areas will continue to be reduced in steel production capacity.

The second is to promote structural optimization and clean energy replacement of the steel industry, vigorously promote non-blast furnace ironmaking technology demonstrations, improve the level of recycling and utilization of scrap steel resources, and promote the all-scrap electric furnace process. This covers the two dimensions of process structure optimization and energy structure adjustment. The proposed "promoting non-blast furnace ironmaking technology demonstration, improving the level of scrap steel resource recycling, and implementing all-scrap electric furnaces" are all synergistic optimizations of process structure and energy structure. Non-blast furnace ironmaking reduces the dependence on coke. Scrap recycling is a substitute for pig iron. The implementation of all-scrap electric furnaces has clear regulations on the iron and steel materials entering the furnace, avoiding the behavior of adding molten iron and pig iron to the electric furnace.

The third is to promote advanced and applicable technologies, tap the potential for energy saving and carbon reduction, encourage co-production of steel and tempering, explore pilot demonstrations for the integration of hydrogen metallurgy and carbon dioxide capture and utilization, and promote the development of low-grade waste heat heating. Increase the penetration rate of mature technologies to improve energy efficiency in an all-round way; encourage co-production of steel and tempering and strengthen the extension of the industrial chain; explore and develop cutting-edge technologies such as hydrogen metallurgy and CCUS (carbon capture, utilization and storage); promote low-grade waste heat heating and give full play to the energy conversion function , To achieve synergistic carbon reduction.

The carbon peaking action in the industrial sector put forward targets for the non-ferrous and building materials industries to reduce unit energy consumption and the construction of energy management centers, but did not put forward relevant requirements for the iron and steel industry. On the one hand, this reflects the affirmation of the achievements in energy conservation and carbon reduction in the steel industry. On the other hand, it also shows that the "Action Plan" fully considers the increase in energy consumption caused by factors such as product upgrades, environmental protection enhancements, and industrial chain extensions.

Promote the integration of upstream and downstream industries, and coordinate the transformation of upper and lower linkages

The steel industry has the "three major functions" of product manufacturing, energy conversion, and social waste consumption, which determine its own low-carbon attributes: producing high-strength, corrosion-resistant, long-life, lightweight, and recyclable green low-carbon products to achieve the foundation Carbon reduction throughout the life cycle of materials; coupled development with building materials, chemicals, machinery and other industries to make full use of steel by-product resources to improve the energy efficiency of the whole society; extend the industrial chain, promote industry integration and industry-city integration, and realize energy and resource synergy optimization. The "three major functions" are fully embodied 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 peaking actions in the fields of urban and rural construction, transportation, and circular economy.

The carbon peaking action in urban and rural construction proposes to vigorously develop prefabricated buildings, promote steel structure housing, and accelerate the large-scale application of industrial waste heat for heating. The Green and Low-Carbon Transportation Initiative proposes to promote the low-carbon transformation of transportation equipment and implement the concept of green and low-carbon throughout the entire process of transportation infrastructure planning, construction, operation and maintenance; to increase the proportion of clean transportation, to promote the transportation of new energy vehicles, "Revolving water" is an inevitable requirement for the ultra-low emission transformation of the steel industry. The green and low-carbonization of steel used in infrastructure promotes steel companies to actively develop green and low-carbon products and reduce carbon emissions throughout the life cycle. The carbon reduction actions of the circular economy are also closely related to the iron and steel industry, such as the resource utilization of industrial waste pressure and heat, waste gas, waste liquid and slag, large-scale, large-scale and high-value use of solid waste, and comprehensive utilization of renewable resources. Will serve as an important implementation subject. The steel industry will give full play to the "three major functions" to promote the development of green and low-carbon cycles in the upstream and downstream industrial chains and supply chains.

Taking the road of low-carbon development, the steel industry moves forward

The central level has clearly emphasized that it adheres to the national "one game of chess", corrects the campaign-style "carbon reduction", and does not engage in "one size fits all". The achievement of carbon peak in the iron and steel industry is an inevitable trend for the reconstruction of the balance of supply and demand and the joint promotion of high-quality industrial development. The "dual control" of production capacity and output and dual control of energy consumption are important measures to promote the first carbon peak. As domestic steel demand enters the peak arc-top area, production efficiency and energy utilization efficiency continue to improve. The difficulty for the steel industry to achieve the "dual-carbon" goal lies in the deep decarbonization after the carbon peak. Environmental protection, energy, carbon emissions, etc. Hard constraint indicators to measure the development quality and development potential of an enterprise. In this regard, we suggest that steel companies should closely follow policy trends, correctly understand policy guidance, systematically figure out the status of the family, improve management capabilities, steadily and steadily, scientifically and objectively formulate goals, and avoid formalism and "swarm" blind advancement.

The realization of the “dual-carbon” goal is a long-term, complex and arduous task. The “Opinions” and the “Action Plan” should be used as a guide to continue to promote existing work such as energy conservation, emission reduction, and ultra-low emissions, and strengthen carbon data accounting. Good carbon asset management, consolidate the foundation, and advance in an orderly manner; at the same time, it should strengthen the coordination with upstream and downstream industries, domestic and foreign resources, and make full use of policy, technology, finance and other means to promote green, healthy and sustainable development.