The impact of carbon neutrality policies on businesses

Legal analysis: In order to cope with global warming and environmental problems, all countries have launched corresponding carbon neutral policies. On September 22, 2020, my country also stated that it will strive to reach the peak before 2030 and 2060. Achieve carbon neutrality before.

Which industries are affected? The industries with the highest carbon emissions mainly include cement, chemicals, non-ferrous metals, glass, etc. Currently, their emission reduction plans are different, and each industry has been sorted out accordingly. The main There are:

(1) Non-ferrous industry

Sources of carbon emissions: Some high-energy-consuming industries in the non-ferrous industry, such as electrolytic aluminum smelting, etc., consume about 100% of the electricity used by the entire domestic society. The volume is 6.57%, and the carbon emissions are serious, second only to the black smelting and rolling industry.

Emission reduction plan: In the context of carbon neutrality controlling total energy consumption, industry production capacity management and control should become stricter. With the development of new energy power generation and electric vehicles, metals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper that are widely used in the new energy field will usher in opportunities and will drive greater demand in the future.

(2) Cement industry

Source of carbon emissions: my country’s cement industry accounts for 13% of the country’s total industrial emissions, mainly from the decomposition of calcium carbonate and coal burning.

Emission reduction options: The former does not have room for carbon reduction; the latter can be accomplished by replacing coal with gas, but the cost will double. Currently, technical alkali carbonization is carried out by replacing raw fuels and adding mineralizers to reduce the firing temperature, but the effects are limited.

In the future, the cement industry can try carbon trading behavior, that is, according to the level of environmental protection emission control, companies with better emission control are allowed to trade emission indicators from the market, thereby optimizing the overall emission structure.

(3) Glass industry

Source of carbon emissions: The production process of flat glass consumes a large amount of raw materials and energy, mainly concentrated in fuel emissions (60-65%) , because the mainstream fuels used include heavy oil, petroleum coke, gas and coal tar, which all produce large amounts of CO2.

Emission reduction plan: Using clean energy such as natural gas can reduce carbon emissions by approximately 10%-20% compared to traditional heavy oil. Changing coal to gas may be an effective solution for reducing carbon emissions. According to calculations by Changjiang Securities, the cost of transforming production lines from coal to gas will be around 5 million yuan. At the same time, the cost per ton of natural gas will also increase by 10%. In the medium and long term, policies and subsidies are needed to drive enterprises to transform.

(4) Environmental protection

Source of carbon emissions: Since landfill waste will produce greenhouse gases such as methane, the greenhouse effect of methane is 22 times that of carbon dioxide. Solutions to this It is mechanical energy waste incineration.

Emission reduction plan: Although the combustion process will also produce CO2, compared with methane, burning biomass can also replace fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to estimates, burning 1 ton of garbage can achieve carbon reduction. Emitting 1.22 tons, it also brought about a carbon increase of 0.55 tons and a net carbon emission reduction of 0.67 tons.

(5) Chemical industry

Source of carbon emissions: In 2019, my country’s crude oil processing was about 700 million tons, of which gasoline and diesel consumption was 270 million tons, kerosene fuel oil consumption was 70 million tons, and others ( Chemicals, asphalt, etc.) 360 million tons, these consumption eventually become carbon emissions. To achieve carbon neutrality, oil consumption must be reduced.

Emission reduction plan: First of all, the raw materials for plastic products are mainly resource products such as petroleum and coal. In order to reduce the use of petroleum and CO2 generated by plastic degradation, new biodegradable plastics that do not involve chemical energy will enter the high-speed future. In the development stage, with the promotion of policies such as plastic restriction orders, my country's market size has reached 42,000 tons in 2018, with a CAGR of 12.2%.

Legal basis: "Environmental Law of the People's Republic of China" Article 4: Environmental protection is a basic national policy of the country.