BEIJING :China’s government said on Thursday energy-intensive industries like steel, aluminium, cement and oil refining should ensure that more than 30per cent of their production capacity meets tighter energy efficiency standards by 2025.
The goals, published on the website of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), have been set to put China on track to meet its pledge to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060.
By 2030, the government will further lift energy efficiency standards and expects a greater percentage of companies to conform to these, said the statement, which was jointly issued by the NDRC, the industry and environment ministries, the market regulator and energy administration.
An annex to the document outlined how much industries must cut their energy consumption by for a single unit of production by 2025. Blast furnaces, for example, must cut by 17per cent.
Oil refiners must permanently shutter plants with processing capacity below 2 million tonnes a year, or 40,000 barrels a day, while there is a strict ban on building new crude distillation units with annual capacity of less than 10 million tonnes and catalytic cracking units with capacity below 1.5 million tonnes.
Mergers and restructuring in the steel, primary aluminium, cement and flat glass industries should be accelerated, the statement added, reiterating the government’s goal of consolidating capacity in those sprawling sectors.
SOURCE: Channel News Asia, 21 Oct 2021 – https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/china-sets-2025-efficiency-goals-energy-intensive-industries-2259511