Layout of environmental protection industry chain: promote high-end, intelligent and green development

Du Zhuang, reporter of China Development and Reform News

"At present, in particular, it is necessary to seize the opportunity of large-scale equipment renewal cycle, promote high-end, intelligent and green development, promote the continuous increase in the proportion of advanced production capacity, and promote the environmental protection industry to radiate new vitality. On April 10, the 22nd China International Environmental Protection Exhibition (CIEPEC2024) and the 6th Ecological and Environmental Protection Industry Innovation and Development Conference held in Beijing, Zhao Yingmin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said.

It is understood that combined with the current focus of ecological and environmental protection in the mainland, this exhibition screened a number of high-tech equipment urgently needed by the market, and on the basis of water, gas, solid, monitoring and other theme pavilions, added a special area for oil smoke control services, dust removal and purification display area, motor vehicle and ship pollution control exhibition area, ecological environment science and technology innovation achievements exhibition area, new energy battery retirement treatment and utilization area, noise and vibration control display area, etc.

Throughout this year's exhibition, whether it is a hydrogen fuel cell forklift, a round pipe dredging robot, an intelligent manhole cover monitoring terminal, or a mobile monitoring platform for grassland biodiversity carried on a robot dog, or a garbage treatment equipment that can "turn waste into treasure", all reflect the company's pursuit of technological innovation and pay attention to the layout of the industrial chain and innovation chain.

Smart environmental protection has become a development trend

At present, transformation and upgrading is a common problem faced by the development of environmental protection industry enterprises, how can we seize the opportunity period of scientific and technological innovation? Relevant people in the industry believe that the focus should be on the research and development of new technologies, the exploration of new models, and the construction of new formats.

In the era of digital economy, the importance of digital resources has become more and more prominent, and smart environmental protection has become a general trend of development. According to Chen Jingnan, vice chairman and chief data officer of Rock Jiahua Technology Group Co., Ltd. and general manager of Jiahua Zhilian, the digital construction of mainland China in the field of "dual carbon" is accelerating. Through big data and other technical means, carbon monitoring and carbon emissions are realized from product research and development, design, production, sales, after-sales and other links, forming a complete closed loop of the industrial chain.

"The core of the digital economy is the embodiment of the value of data. Chen Jingnan told reporters that in the field of smart dual carbon, the company has created embedded products with environmental monitoring sensors, enterprise energy consumption monitoring and storage devices and edge computing as the core, as well as "government carbon ledger" and "enterprise digital carbon meter" and other dual carbon products.

"In view of the problems of environmental protection systems, data islands, unclear pollution, and difficult governance, we can provide functions such as 'pollution traceability, prediction and forecasting, command and dispatch', and provide users with a full chain of intelligent environmental protection services from problem discovery, problem analysis to problem solving. Chen Jingnan said.

"The development momentum of the ecological and environmental protection industry is driven by policy and investment, and gradually turned to market and technology-driven. For the current status of industrial development, Wang Zhibin, director of the Department of Science and Technology and Finance of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said that at present, the development focus, fundamental driving force and effective path of the mainland's ecological and environmental protection industry are undergoing unprecedented changes, and the industrial demand side has gradually shifted from supporting the pollution prevention and control battle to supporting the construction of a beautiful China and achieving the "double carbon" goal. Ecological restoration and areas related to carbon neutrality.

Build an industrial ecosystem

In fact, the innovative development of enterprises has also injected a steady stream of new momentum into the high-quality and green development of the regional economy. As a professional environmental protection park, Jiangsu Yancheng Environmental Protection Science and Technology City is currently in the stage of accelerating running.

"For the enterprises in the park, we should not only 'invite them to come in for a start of business and engage in construction', but also let them 'go out for a second time to start a business and create benefits'. The relevant person in charge of Jiangsu Yancheng Environmental Protection Science and Technology City told reporters that for a region, to make the industry bigger and stronger, from the perspective of green and low-carbon development, the core is to change the previous situation of "many, scattered and low" in industrial development and economic development, and to build an industrial ecosystem is an important starting point. At present, Yancheng Environmental Protection Science and Technology City is focusing on building four major industrial ecosystems of energy conservation and environmental protection, electronic information, new energy and new transportation, and accelerating the breakthrough of a number of difficult technologies in the process of industrial development from "chain" to "circle".

At this exhibition, Shanghai, Hubei, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Heilongjiang and other pavilions displayed a number of new environmental protection products and technologies.

Nowadays, a number of outstanding enterprises in the industry are accelerating their development, and environmental protection industry clusters are rising strongly.

The energy conservation and environmental protection industrial cluster is one of the six advantageous industrial clusters established by Wuxi's "465" modern industrial cluster, which has gathered more than 2,000 key enterprises on the chain, with an annual output value of nearly 150 billion yuan. According to the Three-Year Action Plan for the Development of Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Industry Clusters in Wuxi (2023-2025), the total output value of the city's energy conservation and environmental protection industries will strive to reach 180 billion yuan by 2025, and three characteristic parks will be built.

Shandong should promote the construction of three major industrial clusters in Jinan, Qingdao and Zibo, build 10 ecological and environmental protection industrial characteristic parks in the province, and cultivate and expand 100 leading and backbone enterprises.

From the policy point of view, on the one hand, all localities pay attention to the local characteristic industries as the basis, with leading enterprises as the traction, optimize the regional and field layout of environmental protection industrial clusters, on the other hand, focus on strengthening policy coordination, accelerate the establishment of cross-departmental, cross-regional coordination mechanism and industrial cluster management mechanism.

Explore the deep integration of industry and emerging technologies

Green is the background color of high-quality development. At the same time, the upgrading of demand has also brought about the upgrading and iteration of environmental protection technology, which is developing in a more low-carbon and economical direction.

Promoting the independence and controllability of key core technologies of the industrial chain through scientific and technological innovation has become the key to improving the resilience and security of the industrial chain and supply chain. In the face of new trends and new requirements, pollution and carbon reduction, coordinated emission reduction of multiple pollutants, response to climate change, biodiversity conservation, new pollutant control, and nuclear safety are the key areas of ecological and environmental science and technology innovation.

Compared with other industries, the environmental protection industry has obvious economic externalities and public goods characteristics, with large upfront investment and a long revenue cycle. According to Guo Chengzhan, president of the China Environmental Protection Industry Association, at present, there is still a gap between the development level of the mainland's ecological and environmental protection industry and the internal requirements of green and low-carbon development, and the forward-looking technical reserves for serving the green and low-carbon transformation and upgrading of the environmental protection industry itself, serving the "double carbon" and economic and social green development are insufficient, and the integration and development of a new generation of information technology, biotechnology and new material technology is not sufficient.

Zhao Yingmin pointed out that to further promote pollution prevention and control, ecological and environmental protection will pay more attention to problem-oriented. Through scientific methods and rule of law means, we will achieve high-level protection and promote high-quality development. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately identify pollution problems, provide system solutions, develop and apply new technologies and new products, and achieve cost reduction and efficiency increase operation. Actively explore the deep integration with emerging technologies such as the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence, and 5G, and form new industries, new formats, and new models, so as to provide strong industrial and technical support for the construction of a beautiful China.