On October 28, 2021, Li Xinchuang, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chief Engineer of the Institute of Metallurgical Industry Planning and a foreign academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, was invited to attend the "2021 China-US Carbon Neutrality Round table Conference" jointly organized by Peking University and Stanford University. How does China's steel industry promote carbon emission reduction and carbon peaking?

Li Xinchuang: At present, China's steel industry is evolving to a high-quality period and a low-carbon stage. Under the guidance of industrial policies, with the transformation of China’s economic development mode, the in-depth adjustment of the industrial structure, and the changes in the demand for steel in downstream markets, it is expected that China’s steel consumption intensity will show a downward trend, and China’s crude steel output will reach the peak point in the "14th Five-Year Plan" period and will continue to remain high level output. Closely focusing on the national "dual-carbon" goal, China's steel industry and enterprises have actively responded to and accelerated their actions, putting forward low-carbon development goals, and vigorously promoting the formulation and implementation of carbon peaks and carbon reduction action plans. According to the comprehensive judgment of the research, China's steel industry generally has the basic conditions to be the first to achieve carbon peaks. The specific carbon reduction paths mainly include promoting green layout, energy conservation and energy efficiency, optimizing energy use and process structure, building a circular economy industrial chain, and applying breakthroughs low-carbon technology, strengthening system construction and policy system support six aspects.

During the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, China's crude steel output increased rapidly, reflecting the remarkable results of the structural reforms on the supply side of China's steel industry, as well as the substantial increase in production efficiency brought about by the advancement of steel technology. Since 2021, focusing on the "dual carbon" target and task node, the Chinese government has proposed the implementation of industrial low-carbon actions and green manufacturing projects, research and deployment of steel de-capacity "look back", crude steel output reduction, etc., from January to September domestic, the monthly increase in crude steel output is gradually decreasing, and the annual crude steel output is expected to decline year-on-year.

Preventing the excessive growth of crude steel output and building a higher level of dynamic balance between supply and demand are an important starting point for the Chinese steel industry to promote carbon emission reduction and achieve carbon peaks. In my opinion, it needs to be considered from three levels: First, the government actively guides and multi-pronged control of the excessive growth of crude steel; Second, the industry takes the initiative to build a higher level of dynamic balance between supply and demand; third, the company improves understand and jointly help the entire industry to reduce carbon emissions.