In recent years, Huailai, Hebei Province has restored the Guanting Reservoir ecosystem through measures such as ecological water replenishment and returning farmland to wetland.

The picture shows the Guanting Reservoir National Wetland Park on March 7, with birds flying in the sky.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Xiaoyong

　　◎Our reporter Li He

　　In 2023, the country has completed a total of 420 million tons of crude steel production capacity in the entire process of ultra-low emission transformation, 400 million tons of crude steel production capacity, sintered pellet desulfurization, denitrification, material yard closure and other key project transformations, and 85,000 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) outstanding issues Rectification...

　　As Zou Shoumin, director of the Department of Science, Technology and Finance of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said, in recent years, my country's ecological and environmental protection industry has made great progress, providing an important guarantee for the in-depth fight against pollution.

　　The scale of my country's ecological and environmental protection industry continues to expand, and its innovation capabilities continue to improve. It has covered technology research and development, equipment manufacturing, design and construction, operation and maintenance, investment operations, comprehensive consulting and other aspects of pollution control and ecological restoration. It has complete fields, optimized structure and fine division of labor. The industrial system is basically formed.

　　The 2024 Government Work Report pointed out that this year, our country will vigorously develop a green and low-carbon economy.

Improve fiscal, taxation, financial, investment, price policies and related market mechanisms that support green development, promote the development of the waste recycling industry, promote the research and development and application of advanced energy-saving and carbon-reducing technologies, and accelerate the formation of a green and low-carbon supply chain.

　　Zhao Yingmin, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, previously stated that my country's ecological and environmental protection industry has become an important force in the green economy and has played an important role in promoting economic and social development and comprehensive green and low-carbon transformation.

　　Positive interaction between industry and environmental improvement

　　In 2023, the average concentration of fine particulate matter in cities at the prefecture level and above across the country will be 30 micrograms/cubic meter, which is better than the annual target set by the "14th Five-Year Plan" and dropped by 16.7% from 2019; the surface water quality is excellent (Class I-III ) section ratio was 89.4%, a year-on-year increase of 1.5 percentage points; 124 major soil pollution source control projects were launched, and the safe use of contaminated farmland and key construction land was effectively guaranteed... These achievements are inseparable from the ecological and environmental protection industry support and protection.

　　The development of the ecological and environmental protection industry has made a significant contribution to the improvement of the quality of the ecological environment, and the demand for ecological environment management has also greatly promoted the development of the ecological and environmental protection industry.

　　In 2013, the "Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan" was implemented.

In 2015, the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan was released.

Driven by relevant national policies, environmental infrastructure construction has experienced explosive growth.

By the end of 2022, my country's urban sewage treatment capacity will reach 216 million cubic meters per day, an increase of 83.2% compared with 2012; the harmless treatment capacity of domestic waste will reach 1.092 million tons per day, an increase of 144.8% compared with 10 years ago.

　　The "Environmental Infrastructure Construction Level Improvement Action (2023-2025)" issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development requires that by 2025, the processing and disposal capabilities and levels of environmental infrastructure will be significantly improved.

　　"If cities across the country follow this requirement and upgrade all the treatment of sewage, domestic garbage, solid waste, hazardous waste, medical waste, etc., it is expected to create a market worth nearly one trillion yuan." said Jing, a researcher at the Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Tao said.

　　Investment in environmental protection by the state and various regions has driven the continued growth of the ecological and environmental protection industry.

In 2021, the total investment in environmental pollution control nationwide was 949.18 billion yuan, accounting for 0.8% of GDP.

In 2022, the total investment in environmental pollution control nationwide will be 901.35 billion yuan, accounting for 0.7% of GDP.

　　Huang Runqiu, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Minister of Ecology and Environment, said that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, will arrange central ecological environment funds of 67.1 billion yuan for 2023, an increase of 5 billion yuan from 2022.

As of the end of 2023, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and others have pushed a total of 229 ecological environment-oriented development (EOD) projects to financial institutions, with a total investment of 971.8 billion yuan.

　　The contribution of the ecological and environmental protection industry to the national economy is also gradually increasing.

In 2022, the operating income of my country's ecological and environmental protection industry will be approximately 2.22 trillion yuan, an increase of approximately 372.3% from 10 years ago, with an average annual compound growth rate of 15.1%.

　　The China Environmental Protection Industry Association predicts that my country's ecological and environmental protection management business revenue will maintain a compound growth rate of about 10% during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, and is expected to exceed 3 trillion yuan in 2025.

　　The “double carbon” goal brings new opportunities

　　"Judging from various data and market performance, the ecological and environmental protection industry is currently in an adjustment period after the large-scale infrastructure construction boom subsides." Li Qilin, chairman of the Environmental Services Chamber of Commerce of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and president of Beijing Qingxin Environmental Technology Co., Ltd., said that traditional The market demand for sewage and garbage treatment has tended to be stable, and related industries as a whole are facing the dilemma of slow growth and difficulty in making profits.

Therefore, transformation and upgrading is a topic facing all environmental companies.

　　In Li Qilin's view, the proposal of the "double carbon" goal has created huge green market opportunities, and environmental companies should accelerate their expansion into new fields and lay out new tracks.

　　The market's long-awaited National Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Trading (CCER) was officially restarted in January this year, and the "Interim Regulations on Carbon Emissions Trading Management" will come into effect on May 1 this year... This allows people to see the ecological and environmental protection industry. new opportunities and new growth points.

　　The National Development and Reform Commission recently released the "Guidance Catalog for Industrial Structural Adjustment (2024 Edition)", and "comprehensive energy services" has once again become a hot word on the Internet.

"For high-pollution industries such as coking, steel, and electricity, in the field of industrial waste heat recovery and utilization, environmental companies can provide core equipment and technologies for energy-saving engineering transformation, carry out comprehensive services such as program design of energy-saving projects, and improve the efficiency of energy development and use." Li Qilin He said that in response to the restart of CCER, environmental companies can also participate in carbon emission reduction management, including carbon asset management, standard setting, carbon emission accounting, carbon trading, etc., to lay out the carbon emission reduction track.

　　The new energy field is also a new track for the ecological and environmental protection industry.

Li Qilin said that environmental companies can rely on their own advantages to deploy new energy materials, wind and solar power generation and other subdivisions, carry out power battery dismantling, recycling and resource utilization, and develop industrial and commercial user-side energy storage businesses.

　　During the National Two Sessions this year, the dismantling, recycling and resource utilization of power batteries attracted much attention.

"my country's new energy vehicle sales and power battery installed capacity continue to grow, and the need to explore new power battery recycling technologies and accelerate the layout of the power battery recycling industry has become increasingly urgent." said Zhang Tianren, deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of Tianneng Holding Group.

　　"Currently, my country's ecological and environmental protection industry is in a critical period of transformation from scale and speed to quality and efficiency." Zhao Yingmin said that we must adhere to innovation leadership and enhance the competitiveness of industrial development.

　　Digital technology helps transformation and upgrading

　　Walking into the factory of Jiangyin Xingcheng Special Steel Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of CITIC Pacific Special Steel Group Co., Ltd., on the huge display screen of the Digital Intelligence Center Building, you can see everything from raw material terminal loading and unloading, ironmaking, steelmaking to steel rolling, etc. Real-time data of the entire process.

After the three blast furnaces in the factory went online with the self-developed intelligent unattended hot blast furnace burning system, the total gas consumption dropped by about 100 million cubic meters, which is equivalent to reducing carbon emissions by about 100,000 tons.

　　Liu Huaiping, deputy to the National People's Congress, vice president of the China Environmental Protection Industry Association, and chairman of Jiangsu Kunlun Internet Technology Co., Ltd., said that as an important pillar of my country's national economy, the energy consumption of the steel industry accounts for about 11% of the country's total energy consumption.

Steel companies should be promoted to build a closed-loop power operation network with energy storage as the core, build a digital energy ecosystem with digital and intelligent technologies, carry out in-depth extreme energy efficiency projects, and improve the operating efficiency of the existing energy system.

　　In fact, not only the steel industry, but also various industries in the field of ecological and environmental protection have been actively promoting the application of modern digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data in recent years, promoting the innovation of ecological and environmental protection governance models, and improving the efficiency of ecological and environmental protection governance.

Digital technology is injecting new momentum into industrial transformation and upgrading and supporting the construction of ecological civilization.

　　In the process of promoting the management of the Baihe River Basin, Shuangliu District, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, uses "big data + AI + Internet of Things" technology to solve problems such as traceability of pollutants in the Baihe River water.

Shuangliu District has deployed 13 sensors within 96 square kilometers of the Baihe River Basin to achieve full coverage monitoring of three major types of drainage outlets: rainwater, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater.

At the same time, the artificial intelligence watershed management system has improved the accuracy of pollutant source tracing prediction from 40% to more than 80% through model training and optimization, providing a strong boost to environmental management and law enforcement.

　　"From the development of smart environmental protection to the full embrace of digitalization today, the integration of the ecological and environmental protection industry and digitalization has become more comprehensive and deeper." Li Qilin said that in the future, how to promote the application of digital assets in the field of ecological and environmental protection is a topic that the ecological and environmental protection industry needs to explore. .

　　Zhao Yingmin said that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will innovate the environmental governance model, promote technological innovation and achievement transformation, accelerate the construction of an environmental credit supervision system, standardize the environmental governance market, and promote the healthy development of the ecological and environmental protection industry.

　　(Source: Science and Technology Daily)