Low-carbon technology adds new impetus to economic development

The industry predicts that by 2050, the development advantages of my country's low-carbon economic industry will continue to be highlighted.Green and low carbonThe cumulative investment demand will reach 487 trillion yuan, giving birth to more new opportunities.

"When the old and new kinetic energy is a pressure, carbon reduction is a once-in-a-lifetime new opportunity for economic development. Coordinating the relationship between carbon reduction pressure and momentum is particularly critical for the future development of a region." At the "Re: Think 2022 Smart City and Resilience Future" conference held recently, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a professor at the School of Environment of Tsinghua University,Carbon neutralityHe Kebin, director of the institute, said.

Under the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, the reconstruction of the global energy pattern has opened up huge development space for green and low-carbon industries. The industry predicts that by 2050, the development advantages of my country's low-carbon economic industry will continue to be highlighted, and the cumulative investment demand for green and low-carbon will reach 487 trillion yuan, giving birth to more new opportunities.

Accelerate technological innovation

In He Kebin's view, my country is currently facing the challenge of "three highs and one shorts". my country has a high-carbon energy structure and a high-carbon industrial structure. High-carbon industries such as steel, petrochemicals, and cement that are difficult to reduce emissions still account for a relatively high proportion of the industrial structure. At the same time, my country is the largest developing country in the world and is still in the middle and high-speed process of industrialization and urbanization, and many regions still have incremental energy consumption. Under the above background, my country has only been a short 30 years from carbon peak to carbon neutrality, which is shortened by nearly half compared to the 50-70 years of European and American countries.

"Achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality is a broad and profound economic and social systemic change. Faced with the challenge of "three highs and one shorts", the core of the "dual carbon" goal is a new round of industrial competition. The world is using "dual carbon" as the entry point to compete for a new round of technological highland." He Kebin pointed out.

In recent years, using low-carbon technologies to promote sustainable development has become increasingly a consensus among traditional energy and industrial industries. He Kebin believes that in addition to traditional industries requiring low-carbon technologies to promote transformation and development, green and low-carbon technologies themselves also need to be constantly pioneering and innovating. "We must empower digital and intelligent technology to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality, seize the favorable opportunities for the innovative development of artificial intelligence, the Internet, and information and communication technologies, and integrate advanced concepts and technologies such as intelligent manufacturing and system integration into the production and consumption process. At the same time, we will vigorously develop new power system optimization integration technology, support smart grid technology that rapidly transforms to high proportion of renewable energy, and support renewable energy grid-connected, distributed and microgrid-scale energy storage integration technology."

Global investment increases

As of the end of last year, more than 130 countries around the world have set a carbon neutrality target, covering more than 80% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, population and GDP. He Kebin believes that the purpose of carbon reduction is to deal with disastrous meteorological shocks and conventional environmental problems on the one hand, and to provide new impetus for economic development on the other hand.

He Kebin pointed out that according to the analysis of the International Energy Agency, the new pattern that supports carbon neutrality in the future is dominated by non-fossil energy represented by scenery and light. Compared with fossil energy, globally, non-fossil energy resources are sufficient and the distribution is not extremely uneven. Such resource supply means that countries around the world have the opportunity to develop scenery resources, and it is particularly important and urgent to take the lead in building a technology system for large-scale use of new energy. "After entering the era of carbon neutrality, the world's economic development will change from resource-dependent to technology-dependent. Whoever has better technology and uses it economically and effectively as soon as possible will be successful."

From a global perspective, the trend of low carbon driving the development momentum of the new economy has begun to become prominent. He Kebin introduced that due to the pressure of carbon neutrality in the global supply chain, modern service industries such as the Internet, retail, and finance, including some manufacturing industries, have a carbon neutrality target year generally earlier than the carbon neutrality target year of the country. Apart from the carbon targets set by leading companies, global investment situation also shows enthusiasm for carbon reduction. “Compared with 2020, 2021Energy TransformationInvestment increased by 100%, green bond issuance doubled, and the carbon market transaction volume almost doubled. The overall growth rate showed a very strong signal that low carbon drives new momentum for economic development. ”

Tsinghua University's prediction results can also prove this trend. He Kebin said that according to the forecast, in order to achieve the temperature control target of 2.0 degrees Celsius or 1.5 degrees Celsius, my country's total investment demand will reach 127 trillion yuan or 174 trillion yuan from 2020 to 2050, accounting for about 2.7% or 3.7% of the total cumulative GDP forecast from 2020 to 2050; among which energy transformation investment accounts for nearly 80% of the total investment.

Promote investment and financing pilot projects

Against the backdrop of the continued growth of energy transformation investment, the construction of an efficient green finance financing mechanism is urgent. Estimates from relevant research institutions show that climate investment and financing account for nearly 2/3 of green finance, and the pilot projects of climate investment and financing need to be steadily promoted.

"As an important tool to promote climate change response, domestic climate investment and financing work has been launched." Lu Xuedu, former chief climate change expert of the Asian Development Bank and former deputy director of the National Climate Center, introduced that in August 2022, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and nine other departments approved 23 localities to carry out climate investment and financing pilot projects, which will accumulate valuable experience for the strategic transformation of low-carbon development and climate adaptation across the country. According to the National Climate Change Strategy Center, by 2060, my country's new emission reduction investment will reach about 139 trillion yuan, with an average annual average of about 348 trillion yuan.

At present, my country's climate investment and financing are still in its initial stage and there are many challenges. Lu Xuedu pointed out that at present, my country still has a long way to go in terms of laws, regulations, policies, and implementation guidelines for climate investment and financing. At the same time, there is no systematic climate investment and financing statistical system in China, and there is a lack of basic information such as climate investment and financing and climate benefit data, which has become an obstacle to further promoting climate investment and financing innovation.

In this regard, Lu Xuedu suggested that government departments need to speed up the formulation of laws, regulations and guidelines related to climate investment and financing, such as the definition of climate investment and financing, how to calculate, etc. Establish a national climate business management system, evaluate related businesses, and ensure compliance with requirements. For financial institutions, climate investment and financing should be included in the entire banking and financial system, and training financial institutions to be professional and sales staff should be trained. At the same time, physical institutions can consider establishing professional green and low-carbon teams, be responsible for the company's emission reduction and adaptation business, actively connect with governments and financial institutions, and strive for preferential financial support.