Climate Cooperation China
On behalf of the International Climate Initiative (IKI)

The MEE launches pilot program to evaluate carbon emissions in Environmental Impact Assessments of new industrial projects

The “Emission Reduction Work Plan” requires pilot provinces to develop a mechanism to assess the environmental impact of carbon emissions from construction projects in key industries.

Photo Credit: Pixabay, JuergenPM

On 27 July, the MEE introduced the “Emission Reduction Work Plan”, committing pilot provinces to develop a mechanism to assess the environmental impact of carbon emissions from greenfield projects in key industries. The pilot regions are expected to deliver the first results of the assessments before the end of 2021, so that a sound knowledge of carbon emission levels and emission reduction potentials of key industries can be established by the end of June 2022. Based on this knowledge, methods for the assessment and management of pollutants and carbon emissions from the new projects will be developed.

The provinces of Hebei, Jilin, Zhejiang, Shandong, Guangdong, Chongqing, Shaanxi will participate in the pilot by selecting new projects from six key industries: electric power, steel, building materials, nonferrous metals, petrochemicals, and chemical industries. Additionally, pilot regions may choose to evaluate new projects from other high-emission industries.

The provinces should then assess the environmental impact of the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), and, if possible, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), in these new projects. To this end, the pilot provinces were requested to develop measurement and evaluation methods tailored to the local conditions and estimate the emission generation of the projects both during construction and during their operation. This includes emissions generated by the production of electricity and heat purchased by the project.

Lastly, the provinces were asked to propose measures to reduce carbon emissions in the areas of energy utilization, raw material use, process optimization, transportation methods, and energy-saving and carbon-reduction technologies. Furthermore, they were tasked with improving management requirements for environmental impact assessments and creating safeguard measures to ensure the smooth implementation of the emission evaluation.

Read more (CN)

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