Still long way to go for China's steel industry green transformation

China's steel industry has made remarkable progress in pursuing low-carbon and green development but is still facing some urgent problems and challenges, according to government officials and experts at a recent forum on energy conservation and emission reduction of the industry.

Liu Binjiang, chief engineer of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said that, as a key industry for China to improve air quality and industrial structure upgrades, the country's steel industry has been exerting continuous efforts in areas deepening supply-side reforms, promoting extra-low emission transformation and adopting energy-conservation, leading to remarkable decrease in the industry's overall energy consumption and pollutant emissions and stimulating the endogenous drive of steel enterprises to engage in green transformation.

However, the task for the industry to reduce pollution and carbon emissions and pursue green and high-quality transformation is still arduous, as problems such as undesirable production capacity impulses, supply-demand imbalances and increasing green development gaps between enterprises still exist, he said. He said the entire industry should continue to promote green and high-quality development through safeguarding supply-side reform achievements, reinforcing determination on high-quality ultra-low emission transformation, and promoting synergy in pollution and carbon reduction, strengthening the standardized operations and management of enterprises, and beefing up demonstration and application of pollution and carbon reduction technologies.

According to Fan Tiejun, president of the China Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute in Beijing, China's steel industry faces relatively higher pressure than other industries on upgrading energy mix, as coal remains a major energy source for the industry.

Among the energy China's steel industry buys, less than 10 percent is electricity, while coal and coke account for up to 90 percent. In electricity consumption, the proportion of green power such as photovoltaic and wind power is under 1 percent, he said.

He suggested the industry upgrade its energy structure and pursue high-quality development through green and low-carbon transformation.

The forum was held by the institute in Beijing.

liuzhihua@chinadaily.com.cn