How does the chemical industry implement the "dual carbon" goal

The petroleum and chemical industry is the largest, most products and most widely radiated industry in China's industrial categories, involving the national economy and people's livelihood. China's rich coal, poor oil and less gas resources endowment makes coal consumption will still occupy the first place, the national economic development of basic chemicals demand is also growing, petrochemical can not provide so many products, must be supplemented by coal chemical industry. Among them, synthetic ammonia is an important support for food security, methanol downstream products are rich and widely used, after the international crude oil price rises to $50 / barrel above, coal to olefin, coal to ethylene glycol and other new coal chemical products still have a large space for development.

The introduction of any industrial policy is not to crack down on the real industry, but to optimize the industrial structure, promote industrial upgrading, and improve the efficiency of resource utilization. The "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality" proposed by the state aims to cope with climate change, based on the new development stage, implement the new development concept, and build a new development pattern, with the purpose of transforming the development mode. This is the same as the "environmental storm" in previous years, the tightening of carbon emission indicators is bound to accelerate the clearance of enterprises with high energy consumption and low product conversion rate; The gradual implementation of national carbon trading and the promotion of the mechanism of "elements follow the project" around the country will also promote the concentration of resource elements to the head enterprises, so that the strong will be strong, which will be beneficial to the industry leaders and leading enterprises.

In contrast to the low-carbon development and "carbon peak" and "carbon neutral" goals, the chemical industry does face many challenges in technology, process, cost, management, alternative energy competition, but these problems can be solved through intensive, innovative, green, low-carbon development.

Therefore, in the face of the rapid implementation of China's "carbon peak" and "carbon neutral" New Deal, chemical enterprises should actively respond to and take advantage of the situation, take this opportunity, turn the pressure into the driving force, focus on high-end products, resource intensification, increase technological investment, further optimize the development structure, and promote carbon reduction, quality and efficiency.

The chemical industry implements the goal of "dual carbon"

Park: Develop a "double carbon" plan to respond to "double control" of energy consumption

In order to achieve the centralized management of safety and environmental protection of chemical enterprises and improve the scale advantage of chemical enterprises, many places require the admission rate of hazardous chemical production enterprises to reach more than 50%, and some provinces require the admission rate to reach 80%. A large number of domestic chemical enterprises above designated size are in the chemical park layout and production, chemical park has become an important carrier for the development of the chemical industry, and will also play an important role in supporting the chemical industry to cope with climate change. As a result, the park has become a breakthrough for the industry to promote the goal of "double carbon".

Under the pressure of the "double carbon" goal, the main work that can be carried out in key chemical parks at present includes the preparation and implementation of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality work plans, the implementation of energy consumption "double control" assessment requirements, and the inclusion of carbon emission impact assessment into the environmental impact assessment system and as a project entry assessment requirement.

First of all, the "dual carbon" work programme will be prepared

The national "14th Five-Year Plan" proposes to "implement the target of nationally determined contributions to climate change by 2030, and formulate an action plan for peaking carbon emissions before 2030." We will improve the "dual control" system for total and intensity of energy consumption, focusing on controlling fossil energy consumption. We will implement a system based on carbon intensity control and supplemented by total carbon emission control, and support eligible localities and key industries and enterprises to take the lead in peaking their carbon emissions." At present, various places have started the formulation of regional carbon peaking action plans, and some chemical parks and economic development zones have also started the preparation of their own carbon peaking and carbon neutral work plans according to needs.

Secondly, the implementation of energy consumption "double control" system

The Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposed to implement the "double control" action of total energy consumption and intensity. The relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission pointed out at the carbon peak carbon neutral work forum held on June 16 that the current regions should resolutely curb the blind development of "two high" projects as the top priority of the "dual carbon" work. It is necessary to comprehensively investigate the "two high" projects under construction in the region, scientifically and steadily promote the proposed "two high" projects, and deeply promote the energy-saving transformation of the "two high" projects in stock. All regions should strongly promote the "double control" of energy consumption to ensure the completion of the national energy intensity reduction target of about 3% this year.

Inner Mongolia, which has high carbon emissions in both volume and intensity, became the first region in China to adopt a "dual control" policy in March, while Ningxia followed suit in April. Therefore, the chemical industry park should strictly implement the energy-saving review, and strictly check the "two high" projects that do not meet the requirements of industrial planning, industrial policy, "three lines and one single", capacity replacement, energy efficiency standards, coal consumption reduction replacement and pollutant emission reduction.

Third, consider incorporating carbon emissions into project approvals

First, actively promote the development of carbon neutral implementation standards in chemical parks

For the work of carbon peak and carbon neutrality in the chemical industry, the chemical park is the focus of both the government and the market. Although chemical parks can improve the efficiency of the implementation of carbon peaking and carbon neutral work programs, the implementation of carbon neutral management in chemical parks still lacks standard support. It is recommended that all parties actively participate in and develop carbon neutral standards for chemical parks.

Second, all localities should consider increasing the emission credits of advanced devices in chemical parks when allocating carbon emission rights

This will help reduce the carbon emission intensity of chemical parks and enterprises, and at the same time facilitate the further concentration of emission enterprises in chemical parks. In the future, with the gradual improvement of the technical and economic feasibility of CCUS, CO can be centrally absorbed and absorbed, so as to prepare for centralized management.

Enterprises: Prepare to trade and develop carbon reduction technology

On 10 March 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on a WTO-compatible EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The core content of the CBAM resolution is the implementation of carbon pricing for imported goods covered by the EU market, and the EU will impose carbon tariffs on imported products from countries that do not comply with relevant regulations on carbon emissions.

First, be prepared to participate in carbon trading

Through international agreements and independent national emission reduction plans, the overall national emission quota will be determined, and the Chinese government will distribute the carbon quota allowed to be emitted to emission control enterprises. A total of 2225 key emission units in the power generation industry will be included in the national carbon market from 2019 to 2020, and key chemical enterprises will be included during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. The third party agency annually verifies the greenhouse gas emissions of the emission control enterprises. If the carbon quota of the emission control enterprises is sufficient, they can sell it in the trading center. If the carbon quota is insufficient, they can go to the trading center to buy the quota of other enterprises, and they can also buy the emission reduction generated by other projects such as forestry and new energy after verification and issuance. In addition, the trading center can also re-develop the carbon quota in the form of mortgage, custody, carbon bonds, etc.

The National carbon trading system started online trading in the power sector on July 16 this year, and it is expected that the corresponding carbon emission allowances will reach 4 billion tons. In the future, when the eight major energy-consuming industries such as paper and chemical industry are all included in the national carbon emission trading, the carbon emission quota is expected to double, and China is likely to become the world's largest carbon emission trading market.

As a chemical enterprise, it should take the initiative to do its own carbon emission verification and prepare for entering the national carbon market. Having detailed data on carbon emissions can help companies establish the carbon footprint of their products and deal with possible carbon tariffs.

Secondly, we should actively develop and apply carbon reduction technologies

At present, the carbon emission intensity of the chemical industry is still very high, and the energy saving potential is huge. It is necessary for chemical enterprises to carry out energy saving diagnosis and analysis, and do a good job in energy saving and consumption reduction. The use of information technology and algorithm for efficient matching of energy utilization has gradually become an important means of energy saving.

In summary, it is suggested that chemical enterprises should carry out carbon verification in a timely way, find out their own carbon emissions, do a good job in carbon management and carbon trading talent team construction, and prepare for the realization of the "double carbon" goal. At the same time, it is necessary to improve the information level of carbon emission management. In order to ensure the accuracy of carbon emission data, it is necessary to monitor enterprise energy consumption, process emission monitoring, and establish an information system for carbon emission registration and management, and take it as an important part of the construction of intelligent and green chemical industry parks. In the future, even if the supply of carbon emission quotas is gradually compressed, it is believed that the chemical parks and chemical enterprises that are prepared can seize the opportunity in the process of promoting the "dual carbon" goal.