China-Singapore Jingwei November 2 Title: "Ge Xin: Low-carbon Target Promotes the Development of the Steel Industry from both Supply and Demand"
Author Ge Xin (Deputy Director of Lange Steel Research Center)
Recently, the State Council issued the "Carbon Peak Action Plan before 2030" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), which focuses on the carbon peak target by 2030, coordinates stable growth and structural adjustment, so as to promote the smooth transition of low-carbon energy transformation and gradually promote carbon peak action. The "Plan" proposes that by 2025, the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption will reach about 20%, the energy consumption per unit of GDP will be reduced by 13.5% compared with 2020, and the carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP will be reduced by 18% compared with 2020, laying a solid foundation for achieving carbon peaking. By 2030, the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption will reach about 25%, and carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP will be more than 65% lower than in 2005, and the carbon peak target by 2030 will be successfully achieved。 So what kind of impact will the step-by-step implementation of these low-carbon targets have on the domestic steel industry?
First, from the supply side of the domestic steel industry, among the ten key actions proposed in the "Plan", the energy conservation and carbon reduction efficiency increase action, the carbon peak action in the industrial field, and the circular economy to help carbon reduction action will have a far-reaching impact on the development of the supply side of the domestic steel industry. In the action of energy conservation and carbon reduction and efficiency, "double control of energy consumption" will become an important starting point, strictly control the intensity of energy consumption, and reasonably control the total amount of energy consumption, which will significantly limit the release of existing steel production capacity. In the industrial field carbon peak action, low-carbon transformation and high-quality development will be the top priority, will deepen the structural reform of the supply side of the steel industry, thereby limiting the re-expansion of steel production capacity, while optimizing the structure of existing steel production capacity, is conducive to advanced smelting technology to dig deep into the energy-saving and carbon-reducing potential in the steel smelting production process. At the same time, the circular economy will help to comprehensively improve the efficiency of resource utilization in the carbon reduction action, and will also effectively help the low-carbon structural transformation of the domestic steel industry, and implement the low-carbon concept and recycling into the entire steel production process, so as to achieve low-carbon applications in the whole process of steel production.
Second, from the perspective of the demand of the domestic steel industry, the "Plan" puts forward ten key actions, such as the energy green and low-carbon transformation action, the energy conservation and carbon reduction and efficiency increase action, the urban and rural construction carbon peak action, and the transportation green and low-carbon action will make the domestic steel industry demand move in the direction of high quality. The demand in the energy green and low-carbon transformation action will mainly come from accelerating the construction of a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient energy system, mainly to accelerate the construction of a new power system, which will significantly increase the investment in the new energy industry, thereby enhancing the demand for steel for wind power, solar energy, hydropower and nuclear power construction, and the existing coal-fired power units will also be guided by the "green standard" to carry out energy-saving and upgrading technology transformation, at the same time, energy-saving and carbon-reducing efficiency-enhancing actions will also implement energy-saving and carbon-reduction projects in key industries, promote power, steel, Non-ferrous metals, building materials, petrochemicals and other industries to carry out energy-saving and carbon-reducing transformation, which will drive a large number of green equipment demand for steel. In the urban and rural construction carbon peak action, we will focus on promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of urban and rural construction, so as to accelerate the industrialization of new buildings, vigorously develop prefabricated buildings and promote steel structure housing, which will promote the gradual transformation of construction steel demand to high-quality steel. In the green and low-carbon action of transportation, promoting the low-carbon transformation of transportation tools and equipment and accelerating the construction of green transportation infrastructure will become the focus of promotion, mainly to promote the electrification of urban public service vehicles, and promote electricity, hydrogen fuel, and liquefied natural gas-powered heavy freight vehicles, which will bring new growth momentum to steel in the automotive industry.
In summary, the "Plan" will have a profound impact on the domestic steel industry, the supply side will focus on limiting the release of steel production capacity, optimize and adjust the structure of stock capacity; and the demand for steel will mainly improve the demand quality and demand structure of the downstream steel industry. The "Plan" will start from the two aspects of supply and demand, and promote the domestic steel industry to gradually move towards the road of high-quality development. (Zhongxin Jingwei app)
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