The campaign to upgrade energy conservation and carbon reduction technologies in key industries such as steel is accelerating across the board.

On June 15, five departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission, issued the "Notice on Launching a Three-Year Action Plan for Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction Transformation in Key Industries" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice").

The Notice clarifies that starting in 2026, focusing on nine industries including steel, energy conservation and carbon reduction transformation will be fully implemented over three years to promote the improvement of energy efficiency and carbon efficiency levels of enterprises, and significantly enhance the green and low-carbon development level of these industries. By the end of 2028, the proportion of production capacity in key industrial sectors such as steel that reaches the current energy efficiency benchmark level will increase by an average of 20 percentage points, and production capacity below the energy efficiency benchmark level will be basically eliminated, resulting in cumulative energy savings of over 100 million tons of standard coal and carbon dioxide emission reductions of over 200 million tons.

According to estimates, currently, the proportion of production capacity at the energy efficiency benchmark level in industries such as crude steel, electrolytic aluminum, cement clinker, and flat glass is still less than 30%, and in some industries, more than 10% of the production capacity has an energy efficiency below the benchmark level, indicating that there is still huge room for improvement in energy conservation and carbon reduction transformation. Regarding the steel industry, the "Notice" proposes to promote energy-saving and carbon-reduction upgrades for key processes and equipment such as blast furnaces and converters; apply advanced technologies such as high-proportion pelletizing in blast furnaces, top-pressure equalization gas recovery, and oxygen-enriched combustion in hot blast stoves; promote inter-process interface connection technologies such as one-pot molten iron; orderly carry out the application of technologies such as hydrogen metallurgy; and accelerate the upgrading of energy-consuming equipment such as motors, fans, water pumps, heat pumps, boilers, oxygen generators, air compressors, and transformers; implement upgrades such as waste heat recovery and waste energy power generation; and strengthen the recovery and utilization of by-product gas, waste heat, and waste pressure. Top-loading coke ovens with a carbonization chamber height of less than 6 meters (rammed coke ovens less than 5.5 meters), pelletizing equipment with a capacity of less than 1.2 million tons/year, blast furnaces with a volume of less than 1200 cubic meters, converters with a capacity of less than 100 tons, electric arc furnaces with a capacity of less than 100 tons (50 tons for alloy steel), and old and inefficient self-owned coal-fired units should be upgraded as soon as possible, and coke ovens should be equipped with high-efficiency dry quenching devices.

The notice emphasizes that projects whose energy efficiency does not meet the mandatory energy consumption limit standard and benchmark level should complete the transformation by the end of 2028 and strive to reach the benchmark level. Projects that cannot complete the transformation on schedule or still do not meet the requirements after transformation should be eliminated and shut down in accordance with regulations. Projects with energy efficiency better than the benchmark level should promote the improvement of energy efficiency level as much as possible in accordance with the requirements.