Updated: 2024-06-11

In order to increase the promotion of energy conservation and carbon reduction work, adopt practical and effective measures, and make every effort to achieve the binding targets of energy conservation and carbon reduction in the 14th Five Year Plan, the State Council issued the "2024-2025 Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction Action Plan" on May 29. Among them, there are three major actions related to energy conservation and carbon reduction in the steel industry:

1. Strengthen the regulation of steel production capacity and output. Strictly implement the replacement of steel production capacity, strictly prohibit the addition of new steel production capacity under the names of mechanical processing, casting, ferroalloys, etc., and strictly prevent the resurgence of "ground bar steel" production capacity. Continue to implement crude steel production control in 2024. Regions with lagging progress in achieving energy conservation and carbon reduction targets in the first three years of the 14th Five Year Plan shall not, in principle, add new steel production capacity in the second two years after the 14th Five Year Plan. New construction and expansion of steel smelting projects must reach the benchmark level of energy efficiency and A-level environmental performance.

2. Deeply adjust the structure of steel products. Vigorously develop high-end steel products such as high-performance special steel, and strictly control the export of low value-added basic raw materials. Promote the integrated layout of steel, coking, and sintering, significantly reducing independent coking, sintering, and hot rolling enterprises and processes. Vigorously promote the recycling of scrap steel and support the development of electric furnace short process steelmaking. By the end of 2025, the proportion of electric furnace steel production to the total crude steel production will strive to increase to 15%, and the utilization of scrap steel will reach 300 million tons.

3. Accelerate energy-saving and carbon reduction transformation in the steel industry. Promote the comprehensive utilization of waste heat from blast furnace top gas, coke oven gas, and low-grade waste heat, and promote the connection technology of processes such as one tank of molten iron to the bottom and hot charging and hot delivery of casting billets. Strengthen the demonstration and application of low-carbon smelting technologies such as hydrogen metallurgy. By the end of 2025, the proportion of production capacity above the energy efficiency benchmark level in the steel industry will reach 30%. Production capacity below the energy efficiency benchmark level will complete technological transformation or be phased out, and over 80% of steel production capacity nationwide will complete ultra-low emission transformation; Compared with 2023, the comprehensive energy consumption per ton of steel has decreased by about 2%, and the self generation rate of waste heat and pressure has increased by more than 3 percentage points. From 2024 to 2025, the energy-saving and carbon reduction transformation of the steel industry will result in an energy-saving amount of about 20 million tons of standard coal and a reduction of about 53 million tons of carbon dioxide.