Policy promotes greening of manufacturing sector

The central government has published a wide-ranging policy document to facilitate the green transformation of China's mammoth manufacturing sector, highlighting the need to accelerate the green and low-carbon transition of the nation's traditional industries.

The document — issued by seven government departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission — said the value of output from green factories will account for over 40 percent of the total output of China's manufacturing industry by 2030.

China has outlined a national target to peak its carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and attain carbon neutrality before 2060. According to a report issued by the Energy Foundation China last year, the nation's manufacturing sector, which accounted for 31.7 percent of China's GDP and 30 percent of the global manufacturing total, contributed to 45 percent of China's carbon emissions.

Key measures outlined in the policy document include promoting the green and lowcarbon restructuring of traditional industries and accelerating the use of green and low-carbon technologies to transform such sectors.

Manufacturing businesses will be encouraged to adjust their product, energy use and raw material structures, as well as their reengineering processes. Meanwhile, the use of coal will be gradually reduced and replaced in key energy-consuming sectors.

Liu Wenqiang, vice-president of the China Center for Information Industry Development, said the most challenging sectors in the green and low-carbon transformation of China's manufacturing industry lie in sectors such as steel, nonferrous metals, petrochemicals, and building materials.

To spur the green transitioning of such sectors, the nation must encourage the widespread use of cutting-edge technologies, equipment and procedures to transform and upgrade businesses, he said.

The use of green and low-carbon technologies in emerging sectors is another priority of the policy document.

The government will encourage data centers to increase the proportion of green energy in their overall energy mix, promote the application of low-power consumption chips and explore the establishment of a market-oriented green and low-carbon computing power application system.

The document also outlined steps to accelerate the R&D of technologies that can be used to recycle photovoltaic modules, wind turbine blades and other types of solid waste, and to promote the recycling and utilization of power batteries for new energy vehicles.

The integration between green manufacturing and modern services will be advanced, with more service providers set to receive incentives to offer green manufacturing solutions.

Liu explained that the advancing of China's green manufacturing drive would require the development of a stronger services sector dedicated to the offering of green design, production and consulting services.

Meanwhile, the policy document also reaffirmed the nation's commitment to deepening cooperation with other countries in green technology, products, equipment and services, and to enabling the expansion of its green energy, new energy vehicles, green technologies and equipment overseas.

According to official statistics, China has maintained its position as the world's largest exporter of NEVs, with exports of NEVs reaching 1.2 million units last year, an increase of 77.6 percent year-on-year. Furthermore, the value of the nation's exports of NEVs, lithium batteries and photovoltaic products grew by 29.9 percent year-on-year to 1.07 trillion yuan ($149.7 billion) in 2023.