Low-carbon green industries will inject new momentum into economic growth

"Low-carbon green industries have become an important driving force for economic recovery and growth." On June 20, Liu Shijin, deputy director of the Economic Committee of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and former deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said this at the event "Energy China-Coordinating Transformation and Development: Industry under Comprehensive Green Transformation" held by China News Agency.

How can various industries seize this opportunity of alternating old and new driving forces to achieve sustainable development and green growth? During the event, 10 industry experts conducted in-depth discussions and shared experiences.

Low-carbon green industries have become the main driving force for economic recovery and growth

China has now become the world's largest producer and consumer of renewable energy, and is at the forefront of the world in terms of cumulative installed capacity of renewable energy, equipment manufacturing, green investment and market development. Liu Shijin said that green innovation has driven a large amount of green investment and has become one of the most important new driving forces for China's economic investment innovation and economic growth at this stage and in the future.

He introduced that in the past, when talking about environmental protection and carbon reduction, some local governments would still worry about whether this would drag down economic growth. But now this concept has changed, and people understand that the two are mutually reinforcing and win-win relationships. In fact, not only in China, but also around the world, low-carbon and green industries have become an important driving force for post-epidemic economic recovery and growth. Peng Cheng, chief expert of Power Construction Group of China and director of the Expert Committee of the Hydropower and Water Conservancy Planning and Design Institute, said that under the background that clean and low-carbon are the mainstream trend of global energy development, it is necessary for the energy and power sector to take the lead in reducing carbon.

Peng Cheng pointed out that China should insist on giving priority to energy security and its energy bowl must be in its own hands. At the same time, we should give full play to the production capacity advantages of a manufacturing power and choose a low-carbon transformation path that suits national conditions.

Peng Cheng believes that my country's low-carbon transformation path must implement the general policy of "establishing first and then breaking". "Establishing" includes establishing the dominant position of new energy, promoting the moderate development and flexible transformation of regulatory coal power, developing hydropower and pumped storage energy, and researching new energy storage technologies. Zou Ji, CEO of the Energy Foundation and President of China, said at the event: "Economic growth, energy security and climate and environmental protection have been the policy goals we pursue for a long time, but within traditional energy technologies and governance systems, These three goals are difficult to meet each other and present the so-called energy 'impossible triangle' contradiction."

How to resolve this contradiction? Zou Ji said that with the development and growth of a series of technologies such as renewable energy power generation, energy storage technology, power grid technology, and artificial intelligence in the energy industry over the past ten years, the revolution in the energy technology industry has surged and is in the ascendant. It is increasingly showing that the above three policy goals are a prospect that can be achieved collaboratively, and this prospect is based on the revolution in science and technology and industry.

Zou Ji believes that China's macro economy is currently generally at the forefront of transforming growth momentum. A new and significant requirement for high-quality development is that development must contribute to global climate and biodiversity, stable ecosystems and excellent environmental quality. A sound ecosystem and excellent ecological environment quality are becoming a component of natural capital that accounts for an increasing proportion of national wealth.

"This is a fundamental change that is taking place in our growth process. In the next 30 years, we have reason to believe that green, low-carbon digitalization and artificial intelligence development may become the main drivers of new revenue growth." Zou Ji said.

Which key areas are fully releasing the potential of new momentum?

Qiu Baoxing, academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences and former deputy minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said that in the process of converting old and new kinetic energy, green transformation in the construction field occupies a large part. The development trend of green buildings is reflected in three aspects: more energy conservation, more renewable energy applications, and more health and comfort.

In terms of energy conservation, Qiu Baoxing suggested that building energy consumption should be measured digitally. For example, he said that for central heating in the north, if meters were installed in all buildings and fees were charged based on the amount of hot water used, it would help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by one-third.

Tian Zhiyu, director of the Sustainability Center of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at the event that coordinating energy transformation and green development requires a series of conceptual changes. He said that the first thing to do is to change the concept of energy resources. When it comes to China's energy resource endowment before, people first think of fossil energy such as coal, but in fact China also has abundant wind and solar energy resources. In addition, resource endowments are not only renewable energy, China has great potential for energy conservation and energy efficiency improvement. The understanding of resource endowments must also be innovative. In addition to the enrichment of renewable energy resources in the west and north, there are also a large number of distributed energy resources in the eastern and central regions, and there is also great potential for on-site development and utilization.

In addition, experts believe that we must innovate the concept of energy supply and demand. It is necessary to change the understanding of the separation of energy producers and consumers, emphasize the integration of energy supply and demand, and couple energy conservation and energy efficiency improvement with electrification and digitalization. Energy demand and supply can interact in both directions, not only saving energy and improving efficiency, but also consuming more renewable energy.

Liu Xiaoshi, executive deputy secretary-general of the China Electric Vehicle 100-member Association, said that the penetration rate of new energy vehicles has exceeded that of traditional fuel vehicles, marking that their development has entered a new stage of comprehensive marketization. However, in the process of strategic promotion of new energy vehicles, there are still problems of uneven promotion.

Liu Xiaoshi gave an example that there is a large gap between first-tier cities and rural markets. Last year, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in first-tier cities was close to 40%, while the penetration rate in fourth-tier cities and below was less than 30%. Secondly, due to differences in power battery performance, the promotion in the northern region has encountered bottlenecks. For example, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the Northeast and Northwest regions is only 25%, which is much lower than the 40% in the southeastern coastal areas.

Liu Xiaoshi believes that in order to further stimulate the consumption potential of new energy vehicles, it is necessary to increase the promotion of sinking markets, adapt measures to local conditions, and promote them based on different power performance and environmental applicability advantages.

Jiang Dongyu, vice president of the photovoltaic company LONGi Green Energy Distributed Business Group, believes that unlike European and American countries, China's household photovoltaics are mainly rural photovoltaics. It is a high-quality asset. Therefore, it is necessary to give greater benefits to farmers. Jiang Dongyu also put forward suggestions on the future development of household photovoltaics: First, household photovoltaics should be closely integrated with rural revitalization to give greater benefits to farmers; second, there must be consumption and orderly coordination with power grid transformation; Third, we must establish The construction standards for rural photovoltaics and beautiful villages. In his view, disorderly development will bring many hidden dangers, and project quality must be strictly controlled; fourth, it is recommended that household photovoltaics develop into cities; fifth, pay attention to after-sales operation and maintenance of household photovoltaics.

How to provide sufficient power for the transformation of old and new kinetic energy?

Ye Yanfei, former first-level inspector of the Policy Research Bureau of the State Financial Supervision and Administration Administration, said that financial institutions should focus on energy efficiency, improve the efficiency of technical equipment, and promote financing for technological transformation. If the transformation of technical equipment cannot bring about improvements in energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emission reductions, the effect will be very limited. In the long run, if carbon prices are further increased, negative benefits may be generated. From this point of view, at this stage, technological transformation and trade-in should focus on improving energy efficiency.

Ye Yanfei believes that in the future, on the one hand, we must give full play to the risk-sharing function of government financing guarantee institutions and establish professional guarantee institutions for different industries. On the other hand, commercial insurance institutions can be introduced to innovate insurance products and services.

Jia Kang, founding director of the Huaxia Institute of New Supply Economics and former director of the Institute of Fiscal Science of the Ministry of Finance, said that green and low-carbon development requires matching policies. In the process of resource allocation, the government must be proactive and support market entities to increase their enthusiasm for green transformation.

Jia Kang said that the government's policy adjustment is reflected in industrial policies and technical and economic policies. Its necessity is to make up for market defects. The basic experience that can be summarized in terms of mechanism needs to be further rationalized, such as necessary taxes and internalization of so-called external costs. The design of resource taxes and consumption taxes is to achieve the above effect.

Jia Kang said that the government's policy rationality should pay attention to that policies must be treated differently. Without differences, there will be no policies. However, the rationality of differential treatment needs to be guaranteed by sunshine, professionalism, and rule of law, and the level of rationalization should be improved as much as possible. The corresponding government budget must emphasize openness, performance orientation, public participation, and acceptance of social supervision, so as to ensure sunshine and professionalism.

Wei Qijia, director and researcher of the Industrial Economics Research Office of the Economic Forecasting Department of the National Information Center, said at the event that energy is the lifeline of modern economic and industrial development, and promoting high-quality development of new energy is the only way to achieve high-quality economic and social development. From the perspective of actual development, the development of my country's new energy industry is ushering in an unprecedented period of rapid development.

Wei Qijia emphasized that in the process of promoting the high-quality development of new energy, we must coordinate development and security, focus on the present and the long-term, take into account energy security and reliable supply with green and low-carbon transformation, maintain the dynamic substitution and safe balance relationship between new energy and traditional energy, and accelerate the establishment of a multi-wheel driven diversified supply system for coal, oil, gas, nuclear, new energy, and renewable energy, and coordinately promote the clean utilization of traditional energy such as coal and oil and the effective development of new energy. On the premise of ensuring energy security, we will continue to improve the high-quality development level of new energy.