On September 6th, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced the typical cases of the fourth batch of central eco-environmental protection inspectors in the second round, pointing out that in some places, there are some problems such as coal substitution fraud and illegal construction of "high energy consumption" and "high emission" projects. Previously, in the first three batches of feedback from the central eco-environmental protection inspectors in the second round, there were also "two high" projects launched in some places in violation of laws and regulations.
The blind development of "two high" projects not only affects the improvement of regional environmental quality, but also seriously affects the realization of carbon neutrality in peak carbon dioxide emissions. When the General Secretary of the Supreme Leader presided over the 21st meeting of the Central Committee for Deep Reform, he stressed that the "two high" projects should be strictly controlled, the resource conservation and efficient utilization should be promoted, and new green and low-carbon kinetic energy should be cultivated.
Why do some areas want to launch the "two high" projects against the wind? How to contain and control? How to rectify? The reporter interviewed Yan Gang, vice president of the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
Resolutely curbing the blind development of the "two high" projects is an important measure to implement the new development concept completely, accurately and comprehensively.
Reporter: What are the main projects of "high energy consumption" and "high emission" and what harm will they cause to the ecological environment?
Yan Gang: "High energy consumption" and "high emission" projects, also known as "two high" projects, involve many industries and cover a wide range. Specifically, the "two high" projects generally refer to projects in coal-fired power, petrochemical, chemical, steel, non-ferrous smelting, building materials and other industries. These industries are all key industries that emit pollutants and carbon dioxide. It is estimated that they account for more than 70% of the national carbon dioxide emissions and about 50% of the major air pollutants.
At present, there are some problems in some "two high" projects, such as incomplete procedures, capacity replacement of "one woman marries more", false coal replacement, ineffective implementation of approval requirements, and inadequate energy-saving review. Because of its high energy consumption and high emission, the blind development of the "two high" projects will lead to excessive consumption of resources and energy, environmental pollution and carbon emission problems, which will put great pressure on the continuous improvement of ecological environment quality and pollution reduction and carbon reduction. If the blind launching of the "two high" projects is not effectively curbed, it will not only increase China’s carbon emission level, increase the pressure of pollution control and ecological protection and restoration, but also have obvious high-carbon lock-in, which may lead to the risk of "shelving assets" and investment and financing, aggravate the contradiction between economic development and ecological environmental protection, and seriously affect the construction of beautiful China and the realization of peak carbon dioxide emissions’s carbon-neutral goal.
Reporter: From the perspective of optimizing and adjusting the industrial structure and promoting economic and social development, what is the practical significance of curbing the "two high" projects?
Yan Gang: The CPC Central Committee attaches great importance to resolutely curbing the blind development of the "two high" projects. The 14th Five-Year Plan and the outline of the long-term goal in 2035 put forward that it is necessary to resolutely curb the blind development of the "two high" projects and promote the green transformation to achieve positive development. When presiding over the 29th collective study in the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, General Secretary of the Supreme Leader stressed: "Projects with high energy consumption and high emissions that do not meet the requirements must be resolutely taken down." From the perspective of optimizing the industrial structure and promoting economic and social development, resolutely curbing the blind development of the "two high" projects is an important measure to implement the new development concept completely, accurately and comprehensively, which provides an important starting point for deepening the supply-side structural reform in the new development stage and brings important opportunities for changing the mode and adjusting the structure.
It is conducive to promoting the optimization and upgrading of traditional industries and promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of industries. In the process of curbing the blind development of "two high" projects, by strictly controlling the increment of "two high" projects and optimizing the stock, we can fundamentally solve the problems of low overall local industrial level, biased structure, unreasonable layout and low-level redundant construction, and force backward production capacity to be eliminated, transform and upgrade the green level of traditional industries, and promote the development of "two high" industries in the direction of green, environmental protection, low carbon and recycling.
Make room for the development of strategic emerging industries and accelerate the transformation of old and new kinetic energy in economic development. Curbing the blind development of "two high" projects, making more room for the development of strategic emerging industries such as digital economy and high-tech industries, and creating more opportunities for the development of green low-carbon products and green environmental protection equipment will help accelerate the conversion of old and new kinetic energy, promote the optimization and adjustment of industrial structure, and promote the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development.
Reduce pollutants and carbon emissions from the source and promote the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction. Curbing the blind development of the "two high" projects has cut off the sources of "three wastes" and carbon emissions from the source, reduced the pressure of environmental pollution terminal treatment and carbon emission reduction, and opened up the key blocking points for optimizing the front-end industrial structure to promote pollution reduction and carbon reduction, which is helpful to accurately and efficiently promote the continuous improvement of ecological environment quality and the realization of "double carbon" goals.
Lack of subjective understanding, lack of control action and the fact that the concept of development has not been fundamentally changed are the main reasons for launching the "two high" projects against the wind in some areas.
Reporter: According to the person in charge of the relevant departments of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, at the beginning of the 14 th Five-Year Plan, projects with high energy consumption and high emissions were launched in some areas. Why do some areas want to launch the "two high" projects against the wind?
Yan Gang: The "14th Five-Year Plan" period is a crucial period for China to transform its development mode, optimize its economic structure and transform its growth momentum, and it is also a critical period and window period for realizing peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030. Under the situation that the state resolutely curbs the development of the "two high" projects, some areas are still launching the "two high" projects against the wind. The reasons can be summarized as three aspects:
Insufficient subjective understanding. Some localities and leading cadres have not fully understood the great significance of promoting carbon neutrality in peak carbon dioxide emissions and accelerating the overall green transformation of economic and social development with pollution reduction and carbon reduction as the bull’s nose, and they are not ready for green and low-carbon development subjectively. Some places even regard peak carbon dioxide emissions as a "carbon charge" and "climbing the peak", and think that 2030 is a "window period" to improve the use of fossil energy. They fail to clearly understand the pressure brought by the local high-level peak carbon dioxide emissions on carbon neutrality, which leads to the ideological misunderstanding that peak carbon dioxide emissions can seize some high-energy-consuming and high-emission projects before 2030 and continue to greatly increase the use of fossil energy.
Weak control action. In some places, the authority for examination and approval of the "two high" projects has been decentralized and released, and there is a serious shortage of supervision after the event. At the same time, the top-level design scheme of carbon neutrality in peak carbon dioxide emissions has not been formally promulgated, and a clear timetable, road map and construction drawing for promoting carbon neutrality in peak carbon dioxide emissions have not been formed, and an effective incentive and restraint and assessment mechanism has not been established, which makes some areas lack clear requirements, resulting in weak action to curb the "two high" projects and the absence of government supervision.
The concept of development has not been fundamentally changed. In some areas, the concept of one-sided pursuit of GDP growth and GDP-led development has not been fundamentally changed, especially due to the downward pressure of the economy and the COVID-19 epidemic, there has been a swing in promoting green development. In the choice of development mode, it is easy to be influenced by the dependence of traditional development path, and it adheres to the extensive development mode of high investment and high consumption at the expense of resources and environment in the past.
If the local government fails to implement the prevention and control measures of the "two high" projects and the problems are outstanding, it will implement regional approval restrictions and be included in the central ecological environmental protection inspector.
Reporter: how to control the "two highs" project from the source, and where is the focus of control?
Yan Gang: Source prevention and control is the fundamental solution to curb the blind development of the "two high" projects. On May 31st, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Prevention and Control of Eco-environmental Sources of Construction Projects with High Energy Consumption and High Emission, which defined the requirements of eco-environmental management in macro, meso and project levels, and guided the transformation and development of "two high" projects in low-carbon life. Specifically:
At the macro level, strengthen the control and restraint of ecological environment zoning, accelerate the application of the achievements of "three lines and one order" (red line of ecological protection, bottom line of environmental quality, online utilization of resources and access list of ecological environment) in the industrial layout and structural adjustment of "two high" industries and the site selection of major projects, and give full play to the role of "three lines and one order" in leading the rational layout and orderly development of "two high" projects. More stringent measures should be taken to strictly control the development of "two high" projects in areas such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas where "two high" projects are intensive and the task of improving ambient air quality is arduous.
At the meso level, strengthen the effectiveness of planning environmental impact assessment, and strictly review the comprehensive planning, special planning such as industry and energy, and industrial park planning involving "two high" industries. The environmental impact assessment of park planning with "two high" industries as the leading industries should increase the analysis of carbon emissions and emission reduction potential, and promote the green and low-carbon development of the park. Promote coal-fired energy bases, modern coal chemical demonstration zones, petrochemical industrial bases, etc. to carry out planning environmental impact tracking assessment, improve ecological environmental protection measures and optimize and adjust plans in a timely manner.
At the project level, it is necessary to strictly examine and approve the environmental impact assessment of the "two high" projects, improve the level of clean production and pollution prevention, and promote the coordinated control of pollution reduction and carbon reduction. Strictly control the environmental access of the newly renovated and expanded "two high" projects, strictly implement industrial policies, and strictly and strictly control the "two high" projects. It is necessary to strictly implement policies such as industrial planning, capacity substitution of "two high" projects, pollutant reduction and substitution, and coal consumption reduction and substitution. Improve the requirements of clean production and low-carbon development of the "two high" projects, incorporate carbon emission impact assessment into the environmental impact assessment system, control carbon emissions from industrial sources, and promote the micro-level strengthening of pollution reduction and carbon reduction source control and whole process management.
Reporter: How to rectify the completed "two high" projects that do not meet the requirements?
Yan Gang: The completed "two high" projects that do not meet the requirements must be resolutely rectified, and classified disposal and dynamic monitoring should be carried out according to specific conditions. For the "two high" projects that do not implement the requirements of environmental assessment and energy rating, they should be ordered to rectify immediately. Those who cause serious environmental pollution or ecological damage shall be ordered to stop production or use according to law, or reported to the people’s government with the right to approve and ordered to close down. The examination and approval and supervision department staff do not perform their duties according to law, lax, shall be punished according to law; For the "two high" projects that do not strictly implement the requirements of capacity replacement, coal consumption reduction replacement and regional pollutant reduction replacement, the accountability will be strengthened, and the construction unit and related responsible persons will be blacklisted in the industry and exposed to the public. If the local government fails to implement the prevention and control measures of the "two high" projects and the problems are outstanding, it will implement regional approval restrictions and be included in the central ecological environmental protection inspector.
Establish a system and supervision system that strictly guards against the source, strictly controls the process and severely punishes the consequences, and carry out the normal supervision of the "two high" projects.
Reporter: How to carry out normalized supervision and build an effective system and supervision system?
Yan Gang: To build a system and supervision system that strictly guards against the source, strictly controls the process and severely punishes the consequences, and to carry out the normal supervision of the "two high" projects, we need to do the following work well:
Establish a unified management ledger. Normalization supervision of the "two high" projects involves many departments, such as development and reform, ecological environment and industrial information. On the basis of the dynamic management list of each department, a unified management ledger can be promoted to record basic information such as project name, construction site, industry, construction status, energy-saving review and environmental impact assessment approval. In case of capacity replacement, information such as replacement equipment and capacity should also be recorded.
Strengthen supervision and inspection. Including strictly carrying out energy-saving review, establishing the working mechanism of environmental assessment and sewage permit supervision and inspection of "two high" projects, strengthening law enforcement supervision based on sewage permit, and bringing "two high" enterprises into "double random and one open" daily law enforcement supervision.
Strict accountability. It is necessary to establish working mechanisms such as informed criticism, early warning of energy use, and accountability for interviews, and strictly investigate and deal with areas where work is not carried out effectively and access to the "two high" projects is not strict. Incorporate the development of the "two high" projects into the scope of the central ecological environmental protection inspector, and compact the local government to implement the main responsibility of curbing the blind development of the "two high" projects, dual control of energy consumption and pollution control.
Improve the incentive policy. We will improve fiscal, taxation, price, finance, land and government procurement policies that are conducive to green and low-carbon development, establish different types of total carbon emission control systems, and promote the construction of the national carbon market. Strictly implement the differential electricity price policy, and implement the punitive electricity price policy for the "two high" industries whose energy consumption and pollutant discharge exceed the quota requirements.
Take the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction as the general starting point to promote the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, and vigorously promote energy conservation and carbon reduction in the four major fields of industry, electricity, transportation and construction.
Reporter: While curbing the development of the "two high" projects, how should we carry out energy conservation and carbon reduction to ensure that peak carbon dioxide emissions will be carbon neutral by 2030 and 2060 as scheduled?
Yan Gang: China’s efforts to achieve peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 is a major strategic decision made by the CPC Central Committee after careful consideration, which provides direction for accelerating the development of green, low-carbon and high-quality in China, and also puts forward new requirements for energy conservation and carbon reduction. Realizing peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality is a broad and profound economic and social change, which requires the joint efforts of all localities, fields and industries. It is necessary to take the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction as the general starting point to promote the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, and make an integrated plan, deployment, promotion and assessment. Since last year, our institute, together with 14 industry associations and scientific research institutions, has carried out carbon emission modeling, scenario analysis and peak path research in six key industries, such as electric power, steel, cement, aluminum smelting, petrochemical and chemical industry, and coal chemical industry, and in two major fields, such as transportation and construction, and put forward a national carbon emission peak road map based on key industries and fields. According to the research results, while curbing the development of the "two high" projects, we should also take the overall green and low-carbon transformation of production and lifestyle as the direction, and vigorously promote energy conservation and carbon reduction in the four major fields of industry, electricity, transportation and construction.
The industrial sector has long been the largest field of energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission in China, and it is the key to affect the carbon neutrality of peak carbon dioxide emissions as a whole. While strictly controlling the blind growth of "two high" production capacity, we should focus on the adjustment of industrial structure and the improvement of resource and energy utilization efficiency, accelerate the green and low-carbon transformation of industrial production methods, vigorously promote industrial energy conservation and consumption reduction, and build a low-carbon circular industrial system.
Electric power is the largest carbon emission industry in China, and it is also the main body of China’s energy consumption increment in the next 10 years. It is necessary to vigorously promote the development of non-fossil energy, comprehensively speed up the layout of wind and light power sources, and build a new power system with new energy as the main body.
In the transportation field, we should vigorously improve the development speed of new energy vehicles and continuously reduce the carbon emission intensity of newly produced fuel vehicles; Continue to promote the structural adjustment of bulk cargo transportation and accelerate the formation of a pattern of medium and long-distance transportation mainly by rail and water; Promote green and low-carbon travel and form a green and low-carbon transportation mode.
In the construction field, it is necessary to adhere to the improvement of energy efficiency and the optimization of energy consumption structure. By reasonably controlling the building scale, vigorously promoting clean heating in the northern region, improving the energy-saving standards of new buildings, popularizing ultra-low energy-consuming buildings, intensifying the energy-saving renovation of existing buildings, and actively promoting the application of renewable energy in the construction field, carbon emissions in the construction field are controlled by various measures.
Our reporter Wu Jing
