On September 11, 2023, the 2023 Steel industry "Carbon Reduction and Pollution Reduction, Synergistic Efficiency" Forum co-sponsored by Lvse Jiangnan Public Environment Concerned Centre, Public Environmental Research Center, Zhongtian Iron and Steel, Longjiang Iron and Steel, Changle Metallurgical Association was successfully held in Suzhou. Experts from the steel industry, steel enterprises, ngos, the public and other important guests attended the event to promote the green, low-carbon and high-quality development of the steel industry.

Mr. Jia Feng, former director of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment Education Center and adjunct professor of Peking University, delivered a speech. He said that the carbon emissions of China's steel industry account for about 15% of the total domestic carbon emissions, and it plays an important role in reducing carbon and is the main force for reducing carbon and pollution. In the face of the requirements of international climate conventions, EU carbon tariffs and domestic "1+N" climate policies and regulations, the steel industry should be aware of opportunities while feeling the pressure, and be good at transforming the pressure into a driving force for green, low-carbon and high-quality development, thereby enhancing the global competitiveness of enterprises.

Combining his nearly 30 years of experience in environmental protection, Professor Jia highlighted the positive role of ngos in ecological and environmental governance, such as promoting information disclosure, pollution control, and policy advocacy. The degree of environmental information disclosure can not only reflect the local management level, but also show the governance ability of enterprises, which helps enterprises to go to the world. He hoped that the representatives of steel enterprises present here can open up ideas and cooperate in multiple ways to promote China's steel industry to the world, to the future and to low-carbon; Finally, I expressed my best wishes for this forum.

Dr. Yang Pingjian, Director of the Environmental Sociology Research Office of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, shared the "Path to achieve synergistic efficiency of pollution reduction and carbon reduction". Dr. Yang pointed out that China's ecological civilization construction has entered a critical period with carbon reduction as the key strategic direction, promoting the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, promoting the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, and realizing the improvement of ecological environment quality from quantitative change to qualitative change.

In view of the current situation and existing challenges in reducing pollution and carbon, Dr. Yang shared the action path of reducing carbon pollution and carbon reduction at the city level, including strengthening the coordination of reducing carbon pollution and carbon reduction in key areas, improving the collaborative governance capacity of reducing carbon pollution and carbon reduction, and innovating the collaborative security system of reducing carbon pollution and carbon reduction. Dr. Yang finally put forward that science and technology is the key to the synergistic effect of reducing pollution and carbon, and analyzed it with specific practical cases.

Li Bing, director of the Low-carbon Development Research Center of the Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute, shared the "Synergistic path and policy suggestions for reducing pollution and carbon in the steel industry". The iron and steel industry is an important area to implement the two-carbon target, and it is necessary and significant to promote the synergistic efficiency of pollution reduction and carbon reduction.

Director Li mentioned that the "5+1" low-carbon transformation path of the steel industry includes promoting green layout, saving energy and improving energy efficiency, optimizing energy use and process structure, building a circular economy industry chain, applying breakthrough low-carbon technology and institutional construction and policy system support, and analyzing specific practical cases; The technical path includes promoting high-quality ultra-low emission transformation, orderly promoting short-process electric furnace steelmaking, strengthening raw fuel and optimizing energy structure, etc. In terms of policies, Director Li gave a series of suggestions, including the systematic construction of synergistic policies and standard systems for pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and unified and standardized pre-evaluation and post-evaluation mechanisms for pollution reduction and carbon reduction.

Ultra-low emissions in the steel industry is an important measure for the steel industry to promote green and low-carbon development. Chen Hongbing, Vice president and secretary-general of Jiangsu Iron and Steel Industry Association, shared "The progress of ultra-low emissions in the steel industry and the feasible path of technology". Chen Hongbing said that the ultra-low emission in the steel industry started in 2019, and as of September 10, 2023, a total of 14 provinces and cities and 94 steel enterprises have completed the ultra-low emission publicity on the CISA website. As of June 30, 2023, more than 270 steel enterprises with about 760 million tons of crude steel production capacity have completed or are implementing ultra-low emission transformation.

The ultra-low emissions of steel enterprises should follow the principle of "source change, process reduction, recycling, and end treatment", in-depth analysis of the technical rationality of the treatment process, the energy efficiency level of environmental protection facilities, the risk of secondary treatment, and the comprehensive operating cost, the deep integration of new technologies and new processes, and the whole process of carbon reduction and pollution reduction and synergistic efficiency.

The carbon reduction and pollution reduction of the steel industry cannot be separated from multiple participation. Ma Jun, founder of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), released the "2023 Carbon and Pollution Reduction Index Evaluation Report of listed companies in the steel Industry" at the meeting. In order to guide enterprises to work together to reduce carbon and pollution and achieve green and low-carbon transformation, IPE and Green Jiangnan will develop a carbon and pollution reduction index for steel enterprises in 2022. In 2023, the index will be upgraded to version 2.0 with the addition of "measuring and disclosing the carbon footprint of products" to guide companies to focus on greenhouse gas emissions from the extraction, production, distribution, storage and use of raw materials through to waste or recycling.

Director Ma Jun pointed out that this year's evaluation shows that under the guidance of China's carbon peak carbon neutral goal, the "1+N" policy system and a number of policy standards in the steel industry, coupled with the needs of the EU carbon tariffs, the climate action of the Chinese steel industry is accelerating. The most prominent progress is that nearly 40% of steel companies have issued climate targets, with six steel companies planning to peak in 2023 and seven steel companies announcing that they will be carbon neutral by 2050. More than half of the listed steel companies calculate and disclose greenhouse gas emissions data, while 1/3 of the participating steel companies or their affiliates jointly build the steel industry EPD platform and disclose product carbon footprint data under the guidance of CISA.

In terms of environmental performance, the environmental penalties of listed steel enterprises and related enterprises have dropped significantly; At the same time, key subordinate enterprises actively implement the requirements of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment's new regulations on environmental information disclosure in accordance with the law, and the level of environmental information disclosure has been significantly improved.

This index evaluation also identified shortcomings, including improving the proportion of short-process steelmaking, improving scrap recycling, and expanding the scale of new energy and new technology utilization. At the same time, the environmental protection organization found that the environmental management of some steel enterprises is still extensive, and it needs to promote high-quality ultra-low emission transformation, and use environmental big data and Internet tools to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of management and information disclosure.

Director Ma Jun stressed that the steel industry as an important economic pillar, its carbon reduction and pollution reduction results will become the key to China's "double carbon" goal and continue to fight the blue sky defense war. Accelerating the process of carbon reduction and pollution reduction in the steel industry and green low-carbon transformation not only requires enterprises to fulfill their main responsibilities, but also requires the policy guidance of government departments, the support of financial capital, the supervision of environmental protection organizations and the public, and the concerted efforts of various forces to share risks in order to promote the green transformation and sustainable development of China's steel industry.

Green and low-carbon is the only way to upgrade and transform steel. Mr. Zhou Xiaodong, Director of the Environmental Protection Energy Department of Zhongtian Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. introduced that in order to accelerate the promotion of green and low-carbon development, the Changzhou base and Nantong base of Zhongtian Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. have accumulated more than 10 billion yuan, implementing ultra-low emission transformation, and strive to complete the publicity in 2023. In addition, the Group adopts CCUS carbon capture technology, promotes the coordinated development of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and vigorously develops green energy to improve the green and low-carbon transformation of energy. And continue to specialize in new green and low-carbon technologies, develop green and low-carbon products, establish 5G carbon emission systems, digital intelligence to help low-carbon development.

Zhongtian Iron and Steel Group regards green development and environmental protection as the bottom line of the enterprise, and follows the policy of "adhering to independent innovation, developing circular economy, and building green factories". Accelerate the implementation of a series of environmental protection, digitalization, product upgrading and upgrading, comprehensively improve the internal environment and external image, and build a well-respected world-class steel complex.

Mr. Qian Yinshan, director of the Safety Environment Department of Dongfang Special Steel, elaborated on seven aspects of Dongfang Special Steel's whole process of ultra-low emission transformation, advanced sewage treatment, comprehensive landscaping and greening of the factory, full utilization of secondary energy, introduction of advanced energy-saving technology, careful production process organization, and fine energy management, and focused on the work direction of Dongfang Special Steel in the next stage. The plan focuses on the production process, logistics, electricity, new energy, comprehensive utilization of resources and other aspects, the overall plan to implement 39 renovation projects.

Through the implementation of the carbon reduction path, the carbon emission intensity of Dongfang Special Steel will be reduced to 1.45t by 2025, in addition, it will also realize the coordinated emission reduction of pollutants simultaneously, and the emission performance of the whole plant will be reduced by 2025.

Build a boutique base and build a century-old factory. Mr. Wang Huaibao, Assistant Director of the Safety and Environment Department of Shagang Group, focused on sharing Shagang's green and low-carbon development practices. Shagang actively responds to the national ultra-low emission transformation requirements, and has implemented more than 170 environmental protection projects with a total investment of more than 10 billion yuan; As a company born near the river, Shagang integrates its own green development into the protection of the Yangtze River, and promotes the ecological protection construction of the Yangtze River coastline in an all-round and high standard.

In addition, Shagang has also carried out good practices in low-carbon aspects, realizing the recycling of gas, steam and solid waste; Photovoltaic power generation project construction, green design products, etc. In the future, Shagang will continue to accelerate the optimization and adjustment of industrial structure, adhere to scientific and technological innovation, increase investment in green environmental protection, and strive for environmental protection A-level enterprises.

To be a green and low-carbon practitioner of harmonious coexistence between factories and nature. Mr. Lv Jiyong, deputy general manager of Longteng Steel, focused on sharing the green and low-carbon development practice of Longteng Special Steel. The premise of green low-carbon development is ultra-low emission transformation, but also carbon reduction; Only in collaboration with ultra-low emissions and carbon reduction can the green and low-carbon effects be brought into play.

Longteng Special Steel mainly implements green and low carbon in accordance with the principle of "source carbon reduction, process carbon reduction, end carbon fixation, and low carbon products" and hopes to realize the "four modernizations" that is, high-end industrial structure, intelligent energy management and control, extreme green technology, green steel products; Green and low-carbon is the main line of transformation and upgrading of the steel industry, and it is also the only way to achieve high-quality development.

The sharing of good practice cases of steel enterprises in reducing pollution and carbon shows the efforts of steel enterprises in sustainable development, environmental protection, social responsibility and other aspects, and promotes their own good experience and practices, which is conducive to promoting the green development and promotion of the entire industry.

In the context of the "double carbon" goal, reducing pollution and carbon is the only way for the high-quality green development of China's steel industry. Mr. Fang Yingjun, founder and director of Green Jiangnan (PECC), shared the promotion of Green Jiangnan to reduce pollution and carbon in the steel industry in the past three years. In three years, Green Jiangnan has investigated nearly 100 steel enterprises, of which 44 steel enterprises have been investigated in 2023 (as of now), and a number of research reports have been written to promote the effective rectification of corporate environmental problems.

Green steel enterprises manufacture green steel, for steel enterprises with good practices of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, green Jiangnan has been widely disseminated. At the same time, we also found that in the face of economic downturn and other pressures, the development of steel enterprises is also facing difficulties and challenges. In short, steel enterprises to reduce pollution and carbon need to work together, build trust, and promote the development of the industry.

Zhang Xiuxiu, partner of Shanghai Hui Ye Law Firm, shared the theme of legal effects caused by typical cases of environmental pollution liability disputes of a steel enterprise. Lawyer Zhang started from the background of soil pollution cases of steel enterprises and the basic situation of litigation, explaining the various aspects of legal liability that enterprises may bear due to violation of the pollution prevention law, and the legal effect caused by soil pollution of enterprises.

In this sharing, Lawyer Zhang summarized the aspects of eliminating environmental legal risks for enterprises as follows: 1. In-depth understanding of soil pollution status and historical uses in the due diligence stage; 2. Investigate whether the plot has environmental impact assessment report, soil pollution risk assessment report, etc.; 3. For the historical assessment of land loss or even if the assessment has been made but the conclusion is doubtful, the customer is advised to carry out a detailed soil survey and re-evaluate; 4. Assess the risks and soil pollution control costs to avoid the risk of subsequent soil pollution liability disputes and huge soil pollution remediation risks caused by possible soil pollution; 5. The legal responsibilities related to soil pollution status, risk transfer and traceability shall be clearly defined in the transaction contract.

During the forum, Wang Bidou, Secretary-General of Shandong Environmental Protection Foundation, Director @Ecological Dreamers and other participants actively spread the news, helping more users to understand the progress of carbon reduction and pollution reduction in the steel industry.

The 14th Five-Year Plan period is a key period for China's green development to take carbon reduction as the strategic direction, promote the synergies of carbon reduction and pollution reduction, and promote the comprehensive green transformation of economy and society. China is the world's largest steel producer and consumer, and the reduction of carbon and pollution in the steel industry is related to the achievement of China's "double carbon" goal. Promoting the green and sustainable development of China's steel industry cannot be separated from the supervision of government departments, the supervision of the public and the environmental and social responsibility of enterprises themselves.