Emission rights reform "leverages" green development

On July 15, overlooking Yinchuan from the sky, blue skies, green spaces, lakes, and buildings reflected each other into pictures, full of vitality. Photo by reporter Ma Nan

Since 2021, Ningxia has continuously improved the emission rights trading policy and institutional system, scientifically calculated the "four accounts" for emission rights confirmation, coordinated construction of an emission rights trading platform, comprehensively promoted emission rights trading, and expanded the financial attributes of emission rights assets. Promote the in-depth advancement of emission rights reform, achieve a historic transformation of the total amount of major pollutants from free government allocation to open market trading, and form a virtuous cycle of "emission reductions supporting new amounts". Promote the continuous improvement of the ecological environment quality in the region and the significant improvement of the level of green development.

On July 16, in the central control room of Ningxia Fufeng New Material Technology Co., Ltd., several staff members stared intently at the change of every value on the computer screen in front of them. Production in the factory workshop was orderly.

"Last year, our output value reached 400 million yuan, and this year we strive to achieve new breakthroughs." Guo Huanlong, executive deputy general manager of the company, said that the company's projects were able to successfully reach production capacity thanks to the emission rights reform implemented in Ningxia."We successfully purchased surplus emission rights indicators from other companies through emission rights trading, which effectively ensured the smooth implementation of the project."

In Guo Huanlong's eyes, the emission rights reform is a "win-win" reform. It can not only promote enterprises to reduce pollutant emissions through in-depth governance and other measures and free up total pollutant emission indicators, but also allow new expansion and expansion projects to obtain the required total additional pollutant emission indicators through a trading mechanism and successfully start construction., is an effective way to "leverage" green development.

From passive emission reduction to active pollution control

"In the past few years, we have reached emissions trading with 9 companies, realizing revenue of more than 1 million yuan. The nine transactions have increased our activity in the emissions trading market and increased our enthusiasm for technological transformation." The person in charge of Pingluo County Shengda Activated Carbon Co., Ltd. introduced. Up to now, the company has used the proceeds from emissions trading for flue gas technical transformation projects and equipment updates of three converters. By using the new process, the company's two newly replaced desulfurization towers have been successfully merged into one large desulfurization tower, effectively reducing pollutant emissions.

"Last year, we won 99.09 tons of nitrogen oxides and 10.65 tons of sulfur dioxide on the Ningxia Public Resource Trading Online in four times, ensuring that the company started production normally this year." said Wang Lidong, Safety and Environmental Protection Department of Ningxia Weiyuan New Energy Co., Ltd. The reform of emission rights promotes enterprises to implement in-depth pollution control. At present, the company actively promotes green development of the industry and reduces carbon and pollution in all aspects through methods such as technological upgrades, intelligent transformation, and collaborative innovation.

The visible dividends have led more and more companies to move from passive emission reduction to active pollution control. Many companies have benefited through transactions, mortgages, etc., and the emission rights indicator has changed from "numbers" to "wealth".

Seek innovation through reform and seek development through reform. Wuzhong City has issued a pilot measure to clarify that for units that actively transfer tradable emission rights, if there is a need for new emission rights indicators in subsequent project construction, they can be allocated and solved on a priority basis from the government's reserve emission rights, so as to eliminate the worries of enterprises transferring emission rights. After understanding the policy, the heads of Ningxia Shengbao Energy Co., Ltd., Ningxia Bauhinia Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and other units located in the jurisdiction changed the previous concept of "hiding power and reluctant to sell" and successfully cooperated with Changqing Oilfield Branch of China National Petroleum Corporation Limited. No. 3 Oil Production Plant and Ningxia Yanchi County Yongsheng Concrete Industry Co., Ltd. reached a transaction agreement to transfer tradable emission rights.

The Diannong River in Yinchuan is full of flowers, and citizens stroll among them to enjoy the weekend. Photo by reporter Ma Nan

"Through the reform of emission rights, the endogenous motivation of enterprises to reduce pollution and emission reduction has been fully mobilized. On the one hand, in order to reduce the transaction costs of emission rights, new projects choose to adopt cleaner production processes and raw materials, and more advanced pollution control technologies; on the other hand, Existing enterprises can benefit from transferring excess emission rights, and their enthusiasm for emission reduction will be greatly enhanced." The relevant person in charge of the Autonomous Region's Department of Ecology and Environment introduced that since the "14th Five-Year Plan", Ningxia has reduced emissions of 19,500 tons of nitrogen oxides, 7,500 tons of volatile organic compounds, 12,500 tons of chemical oxygen demand, and 1,300 tons of ammonia nitrogen, exceeding the "14th Five-Year Plan" emission reduction tasks assigned by the state in advance, freeing up valuable space for the development of the "Six New, Six Specialities and Six Excellent +N" industry and the construction of major projects.

Emission rights indicators leverage financial credit

In January this year, Ningxia Ning Innovation Materials Technology Co., Ltd. secured a 240 million yuan loan from China Construction Bank based on paid emission rights, effectively solving the problem of insufficient funds in the construction of enterprises.

Ningxia Ning Innovation Materials Technology Co., Ltd. is an enterprise with advantages in aluminum-based deep processing. In April 2022, the company started construction of a recycled aluminum production and construction project with an annual output of 300,000 tons. During the construction of the project, the company successively purchased sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, chemical oxygen demand, and ammonia nitrogen emission rights indicators on the autonomous region's public resource trading website, and obtained certificates for other emission rights. "We are one of the major aluminum-based chain producers in the autonomous region. There is a large funding gap in the construction of new projects. After the government learned about our situation, it assisted in making loans based on our emission rights indicators as collateral, and used the 210,000 yuan indicator to leverage 240 million yuan in funds, solving the problem of corporate capital shortage." The person in charge of the safety and environmental protection department of Ningxia Ning Innovation Materials Technology Co., Ltd. told reporters. After the loan of 240 million yuan was in place, the company immediately invested the money into project trial production.

How can emission rights indicators leverage financial credit?

"Emission rights are a factor of production and corporate assets, and have the attribute of transforming from assets to 'working capital'." The person in charge of the Autonomous Region Department of Ecology and Environment introduced. Ecological and environmental departments and financial institutions have actively innovated green finance and explored the financial product of emission rights mortgage loans. There are sufficient reasons for granting credit to enterprises, and preferential interest rates for green credit can also be granted. All parts of our district have also taken measures to actively explore the implementation of emission rights mortgage loans. Yinchuan draws on the advanced experience of emission rights mortgage financing from Shanghai City and other places, and guides financial institutions to introduce emission rights mortgage loan products based on actual conditions. Currently, Ningxia Bank, China Everbright Bank, Industrial Bank and other financial institutions can provide emission rights mortgage loan business, and more than 30 companies have the conditions for emission rights mortgage loans. The three-party linkage of "government-bank-enterprise" in Zhongwei has turned the numbers on emission permits into precious invisible assets, which is of great significance to innovating guarantee methods and promoting green transformation and development of enterprises.

Up to now, the district has completed a total of 529 emissions rights transactions, with an amount of 40.81 million yuan, with a transaction volume of 5145 tons, supporting the construction of more than 200 projects, and is the first among the nine provinces and regions along the Yellow River and the five provinces and regions in the northwest to achieve cross-city transactions; Give financial attributes to emissions rights, and realize 20 mortgage loans in the form of "emission rights +", with a credit amount of 454 million yuan.

"We will strengthen the dynamic update of emission rights data, build a comprehensive emission rights management platform, open up data barriers, realize the exchange and sharing of transaction data and transaction subject information, form a 'one network' for rights confirmation, trading, services, and supervision, and solidly promote the major pollutant emission reduction project, promote the formation of a number of government reserve emission rights and enterprise-tradable emission rights, strive to expand emission reduction results, and contribute to accelerating the construction of a pioneer area for ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin." The person in charge of the Autonomous Region Department of Ecology and Environment said. (Reporters Li Jin, Zhang Tao, intern He Siyu)

witness

Sleeping capital "lending" drives green development

Ningxia Hengkang Technology Co., Ltd. is one of the first companies to participate in Ningxia's emission rights reform and is also a beneficiary of emission rights trading. With the assistance of the Yinchuan Ecological Environment Bureau, the company signed an intentional cooperation agreement with the Beijing Road Branch of Bank of Ningxia. Bank of Ningxia granted a credit loan of 26 million yuan to Hengkang Technology in a combination loan including emission rights.

Sleeping capital "loans" drive green development. The implementation of Hengkang Technology's emission rights mortgage loan is an innovative practice and exploration by Yinchuan to promote financial institutions and enterprises in the field of green finance. It not only broadens the financing channels for corporate pollution reduction, but also enables the green financial attributes of emission rights to be implemented and effective.

"As a capital city, to further promote the reform of emission rights, we must innovate and make breakthroughs and establish a sense of leadership." Song Juan, deputy chief of the Policy and Regulation Section of the Yinchuan Ecological Environment Bureau, said. In recent years, Yinchuan has continued to increase the activity of the emission rights trading market, supervising and guiding new projects to enter the market to trade emission rights. So far, a total of 224 emission rights transactions have been completed, with an amount of 11.7523 million yuan, and 106.77 million yuan in emission rights credit loans have been realized. The market value of emission rights has gradually emerged.

Giving priority to projects to protect people's livelihood is one of the prerequisites for Wuzhong City to promote the reform of emission rights.

"The emission indicators of the boiler rooms of our newly built elderly care homes were obtained through the emission rights reform." The person in charge of the Elderly Nursing Home of the Hongsibao District Civil Affairs Bureau of Wuzhong City said that the Wuzhong City government transferred 2.18 tons of government reserve emission rights to the Elderly Nursing Home at a price lower than the market price, effectively solving the problem of the Nursing Home.

Ma Xiaoming, deputy director of the Ecological Environment Bureau of Wuzhong City, said that the reform of emission rights is a powerful starting point for promoting the construction of ecological protection and high-quality development pilot areas in the Yellow River Basin. Its core is to use market mechanisms to fundamentally consolidate pollution control results, promote pollution reduction from the source, and strategically expand environmental capacity. In line with the principle of serving enterprises and units and protecting the overall quality of the environment, Wuzhong City has carried out bold innovations and linked pollution discharge permits to achieve accuracy. Adding emission rights confirmation and transaction information to the content of emission permits will become the legal basis for enterprises to hold emission rights. In response to the situation that some pollutant discharge units do not understand the trading market conditions and the transaction unit price in the secondary market fluctuates too much, the "Wuzhong City Emission Rights Trading Index" was released to disclose the trading volume and transaction price of emission rights to provide regular reference for secondary market transactions. (Reporter Zhang Tao, intern He Siyu)

vision

Embrace new opportunities for reform

"Emissions trading ensures the normal operation of enterprises and solves the problems encountered in the development of enterprises." Last year, Ningxia Risheng High-tech Industry Co., Ltd. and Ningxia Qiyuan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. completed the transaction of 20.213 tons of sulfur dioxide and 28.875 tons of nitrogen oxides emission rights, with a total transaction value of 1.71 million yuan. This is Ningxia's first cross-regional emission rights transaction. On July 10, when talking about the reform of emission rights, Du Yuhong, director of the External Relations Department of Ningxia Risheng High-tech Industry Co., Ltd., said: "As a company, we must follow the path of green emission reduction, energy conservation, efficiency, and high-quality development to have a future."

After the completion of the second phase of the 1× 30MW +2× 75MW coal-fired back-pressure thermal power project project of Ningxia Risheng High-tech Industry Co., Ltd., due to the shortage of indicators in the thermal power industry in Shizuishan City, the company was unable to put into operation. The Shizuishan City Ecological Environment Bureau learned that Ningxia Qiyuan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. had surplus emission rights indicators for the thermal power industry and had intentions to transfer them, so it took the initiative to serve and assisted the enterprise in connecting with the Autonomous Region Ecological Environment Department and the Yinchuan Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau many times, and finally promoted this cross-city emission rights transaction.

"After the unit is put into operation, it can provide 260 tons of steam per hour and about 30,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity to the company's chemical production line." Du Yuhong said that the reform of emission rights has brought new opportunities for enterprises. It not only allows existing enterprises to gain benefits from pollution reduction and emission reduction, but also frees up environmental space for incremental enterprises to settle down, truly realizing the realization that whoever emits pays, whoever reduces emissions benefits, enterprises, the government, and the public can all enjoy the dividends brought by the reform of emission rights.

"This year, the Autonomous Region's Department of Ecology and Environment agreed to allocate 40% of the indicators required for the project from the autonomous region-level reserve emission rights, that is, 38.864 tons of sulfur dioxide per year and 66.392 tons of nitrogen oxides per year to the Ningdong base, to support the construction and production of the storage materials company's projects. This ensures that some of our units are operated and put into production as planned." Zhang Yin, a staff member of Ningxia Baofeng Energy Storage Materials Co., Ltd., said that for buyers of emissions trading, they have to pay an economic price to obtain emissions rights. In terms of new emissions, a series of measures must be taken to reduce emissions as much as possible., forcing enterprises to transform and upgrade. The company took this into account when designing the new project, and used steam to generate electricity at the beginning of the project design, thereby reducing nitrogen oxide emissions. "Now, the development concept of 'I want to reduce emissions' is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the enthusiasm of enterprises to reduce emissions has been greatly enhanced." Zhang Yin said. (Reporter Zhang Tao, intern He Siyu)

reporter's notes

The concept of "environment is valuable" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people

September 29, 2021 is a day worth remembering. On the same day, Ningxia's first emission rights trading was completed. Shizuishan Baiwei New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. and Ningxia Ningping Carbon Company successfully competed for sulfur dioxide emission targets, with the winning amounts of 5.3 tons and 19.7 tons respectively. This is a historic breakthrough in the implementation process of Ningxia's emission rights reform.

Over the past three years, from the first transaction to the 529th transaction, more and more companies have actively integrated into the emission rights reform.

Ningxia Xinjing New Material Technology Co., Ltd. is a manufacturer that provides supporting quartz crucibles for the photovoltaic industry. At the beginning of production, due to emission restrictions on major pollutants, the company's production and operation were affected. After actively docking with relevant departments such as the Yinchuan Ecological Environment Bureau, the company has participated in four emission rights indicator transactions through the primary market auction and secondary market transaction of emission rights. At the same time, it has also obtained credit loans through the mortgage of emission rights, which strongly supports the transformation and upgrading of enterprises.

While revitalizing "intangible" assets and increasing capital and reducing burdens for enterprises, the emission rights reform fully stimulates the endogenous motivation of enterprises for independent innovation.

Nowadays, the concept of "environment is valuable" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Ningxia uses market mechanisms to optimize resource allocation, establishes a policy and institutional system for emission rights reform, calculates and releases the base price of transactions, calculates the "four accounts" of initial emission rights, tradable emission rights, new emission rights, and government reserve emission rights, so as to achieve "It should be accurate","should be reported as much as possible" and "should be stored as much as possible", build a unified trading platform for the whole district, launch a volatile organic compound trading pilot in Yinchuan City, and achieve "three full coverage" of trading areas, pollution factors and industry categories. Trading activity continues to increase.

The social orientation of "limited capacity, valuable resources, and paid for use" has been gradually established, and enterprises have shifted from "asking me to reduce emissions" to "I want to reduce emissions", forming a virtuous cycle of "emission reductions supporting new increases". (Reporter Li Jin)