Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the "Several Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of Environmental Protection Equipment Manufacturing Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), which will promote the comprehensive upgrade of environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry from traditional pollution control to green, low-carbon and circular development, and create a trillion-level industry with international competitive advantages.
The environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry is an important foundation for promoting green and low-carbon transformation. Experts believe that the "Opinions" put forward 12 policy measures from the aspects of strengthening key technology research, accelerating the promotion of advanced technologies, cultivating new momentum for industry development, and optimizing the industrial development environment, which will enhance the overall competitiveness and sustainable development capabilities of the industry.
The overall industrial chain is autonomous and controllable
A relevant person in charge of the Energy Conservation and Comprehensive Utilization Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that after decades of development, my country's environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry has continued to grow in scale, and its contribution and driving role in the ecological and environmental protection industry have been significantly enhanced. Environmental protection equipment complete machines and complete sets of equipment have basically met the domestic pollution control needs, the overall industrial chain has achieved autonomy and control, and a number of technical equipment have reached the international leading level.
The industry continues to develop healthily and steadily. According to estimates by relevant industry associations, since the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the total output value of environmental protection equipment manufacturing has grown at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 6%, reaching 920 billion yuan in 2024. In 2024, the export delivery value of my country's environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry increased by 1.8% year-on-year to 39.2 billion yuan, and its international influence and competitiveness continued to increase.
The level of technical equipment has been steadily improved. At present, the technical level of my country's environmental protection equipment has achieved "overall parallel running and local leading", such as ultra-low emissions of coal-fired units, high-temperature flue gas filtration and other technical equipment have reached the international leading level, and a number of high-end equipment such as the coordinated disposal of conventional pollutants and efficient treatment of difficult-to-degrade pollutants have achieved breakthroughs. New models and new formats such as the deep integration of environmental protection equipment with new-generation information technologies such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence continue to emerge, and the level of digitalization and intelligence continues to improve.
The trend of industrial agglomeration development is obvious. The environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry presents the regional agglomeration development characteristics of "one belt and one axis". More than 70% of large-scale environmental protection equipment manufacturing enterprises are concentrated in the coastal economic belts of the Bohai Rim, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and other regions, and the provinces and cities along the Yangtze River with the Yangtze River Economic Belt as the axis. Among them, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Guangdong are the main gathering places for environmental protection equipment enterprises, contributing nearly 60% of the industry's operating income. High-quality enterprises continue to emerge, forming a group of leading enterprises with a scale of 10 billion yuan, and cultivating 358 environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry standard conditions enterprises.
Ren Hongqiang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and dean of the School of Environment at Nanjing University, believes that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the output value of my country's environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry has reached nearly 1 trillion yuan, a group of leading enterprises with a scale of 10 billion yuan continue to emerge, the industry has achieved large-scale development, and the level of environmental protection technology and equipment has been significantly improved, which can basically meet the domestic pollution control needs, and is realizing the transformation from big to strong and from good to excellent.
"The Opinions takes high-quality development as the core, focuses on scientific and technological innovation and application, industry transformation and environmental optimization, and will lay a solid foundation for the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry and promote the industry to a new height of sustainable development." said Ma Jun, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and vice president of the School of Environment of Harbin Institute of Technology.
Focus on solving bottlenecks
At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is developing in depth, and the frontier of science and technology is accelerating breakthroughs and integrated innovation, which has given new impetus to the development of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry. The tiered development pattern of green transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, green high-starting development of strategic emerging industries, and forward-looking layout of future industries has put forward new requirements for the development of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry.
Ren Hongqiang frankly said that the development of my country's environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry is facing a new situation in which the demand for traditional pollution control environmental protection equipment is gradually shrinking and the new demand market is growing. The contradictions and problems accumulated in the environmental protection industry for a long time have erupted in a concentrated manner. The industry's innovation ability is not strong, the low-end homogeneous competition of products is serious, and the application and promotion of advanced technology equipment are difficult. The products are far behind the technical equipment products of developed countries in terms of high-end, modularization, standardization, and intelligence. The supply capacity of key technical equipment is not adapted to the needs of major environmental governance. The environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry has both opportunities and challenges.
"At present, the problem of homogeneous competition in my country's environmental protection equipment industry is becoming increasingly prominent, and the market presents a structural contradiction of 'crowding at the low end and lack of high end'. More than 90% of the enterprises in the industry are small and medium-sized enterprises, with low product technology content and serious homogeneity, and it is difficult to promote advanced environmental protection technology and equipment." Wang Yining, honorary president of the China Environmental Protection Machinery Industry Association, said.
Qin Hailin, chief engineer of the China Institute of Information Industry Development, analyzed that in order to further accelerate the research and development and promotion and application of advanced and applicable environmental protection technology and equipment, the "Opinions" will work from both the supply and demand sides to strengthen policy guidance. For the supply side, focus on the bottlenecks in the industrial chain and supply chain, implement a three-year action plan to improve major environmental protection technology and equipment, carry out "unveiling the list and taking charge" around key technologies such as high-salt wastewater treatment and reuse, break through the shortcomings of a number of basic components, materials, agents and control devices such as special sensors, and accelerate the research and development of complete sets of technology and equipment; improve the high-end, intelligent and green level of traditional environmental protection equipment. For the demand side, strengthen the connection between supply and demand of environmental protection technology and equipment. Regularly formulate and revise the catalog of major environmental protection technology and equipment that the state encourages to develop, build an effective connection channel between environmental protection equipment manufacturers and demand users; explore the establishment of an environmental protection equipment user evaluation mechanism.
The Opinions clearly define the overall requirements and two phased development goals. They are: strive to significantly increase the market share of advanced technology equipment by 2027, make the standard system more sound, basically fill the "shortcomings" of the technology equipment industry chain in key areas, form an advantageous pattern of "long-board" technology equipment leading domestically and "going out" abroad, and build a relatively complete environmental protection equipment supply system. By 2030, the "short-board" of the environmental protection technology equipment industry chain will be independently controllable, the advantages of "long-board" technology equipment will be further expanded, the scale, product quality and comprehensive benefits of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry will be further improved, a group of leading enterprises with strong industrial innovation capabilities and comprehensive competitiveness will be cultivated, and the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry will be promoted from traditional pollution control to green, low-carbon and circular development.
