A new plan released by the Guangdong Provincial People’s Government stipulates that by 2025, the province’s energy consumption per unit of GDP will drop by 14 percent compared to its 2020 level.
The Guangdong Province “14th Five-Year Plan” Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Implementation Plan, issued on Sept 16, also clarified that the total energy consumption will be properly controlled, and the emissions of chemical oxygen demand, ammonia nitrogen, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds will be reduced by 197,300 tons, 9,800 tons, 73,800 tons, and 49,900 tons respectively in key projects by 2025.
The Plan also promotes more robust energy-saving and emission-reduction policies and systems and urges key industries and products to reach international standards in terms of energy utilization efficiency and emission control of major pollutants.
The Plan sets out key projects for energy conservation and emission reduction, including:
- Green upgrading for key industries: Focusing on industries such as thermal power, petrochemicals, iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, building materials, papermaking, textile printing and dyeing, to comprehensively promote energy-saving renovations and upgrades as well as in-depth control of pollutants. Actively promote a number of advanced energy-saving and emission-reduction technologies, and accelerate the transformation of ultra-low emissions in steel, cement and other industries and the transformation of low-nitrogen combustion of gas-fired boilers. Implement classified management of industrial clusters such as the coating and chemical industries. Promote improvements to the energy efficiency of new infrastructure.
- Urban energy conservation and carbon reduction: Promote the development of low-carbon cities, resilient cities, sponge cities, and “waste-free cities”. Accelerate the development of buildings with ultra-low energy consumption and near zero energy consumption, promote the construction of all new civil buildings in accordance with green building standards, and comprehensively promote energy conservation and green transformation of existing buildings. Promote integrated construction of solar panels on buildings and improve the water pipe network.
- Clean and efficient utilization of coal: On the premise of ensuring the safe and reliable supply of electricity, steadily promote the reduction of coal consumption, coal substitution, transformation and upgrading. Promote reforms of existing coal power units to save coal and reduce consumption, upgrade heat supply, and upgrade flexibility, and continue to promote the ultra-low emission transformation of coal-fired power units. Gradually expand the scope of Class III (strict) high-polluting fuel no-burning zones.
- Green and efficient refrigeration: Promote refrigeration production companies to produce more efficient refrigeration products. Strictly control refrigerant leakage and discharge during production. Promote green and efficient refrigeration consumption, increase government support for the procurement of green and efficient refrigeration products, and encourage qualified regions to implement “energy-saving subsidies” and “trade-ins”. Promote energy-saving transformation in key areas such as central air conditioning at data centers and business industrial parks, and cold chain logistics.
