China's industrial sector accounts for 70% of the total carbon emissions, and how can factories, as the most basic unit of green transformation in the industrial sector, achieve carbon neutrality?
1. What is a zero-carbon factory?
The so-called "zero-carbon factory" is a production plant that directly or indirectly generates "zero" total greenhouse gas emissions in the process of production and operation within a certain range of time, that is, the carbon emissions in the whole life cycle production process from raw material production to waste treatment are zero. The "zero-carbon factory" can be regarded as an upgraded version of the green factory, which achieves the "minimum reduction" through the application of energy-saving and emission reduction technologies, renewable energy substitution and carbon-negative technologies. At the same time, all carbon emissions generated in the production process are eliminated, which means "zero emissions" of carbon dioxide.
2. Classification of zero-carbon factories.
The "Zero-carbon Factory Evaluation Specification" group standard provides clear instructions on the classification and evaluation methods of zero-carbon factories. According to the type of greenhouse gas source neutralized within the accounting boundary, zero-carbon factories are divided into two types: type and type. Where:
Zero-carbon factories implement zero-carbon factory strategies for two types of greenhouse gas sources: direct emissions and removals of greenhouse gases and indirect emissions of greenhouse gases from energy inputs.
On the basis of the zero-carbon factory, the zero-carbon factory will increase the sources of greenhouse gases that cause indirect emissions from transportation and products used by the organization, and implement the zero-carbon factory strategy.
The two types of zero-carbon factories can be further subdivided into four levels based on the assessment results, with six stars being the highest level. For the six-star assessment, the requirements for a zero-carbon factory are 100% renewable electricity and 100% offsettingThe requirements for zero-carbon factories are 100% renewable electricity and 100% removal.
3. Zero-carbon factory implementation process.
1) Define goals and strategies.
2) Carry out energy planning.
3) Build an intelligent control system.
4) Achieve industrial synergy.
5) System construction.
6) Construction of energy facilities.
7) Environmental control.
4. Evaluation indicators of zero-carbon factories.
The evaluation of zero-carbon factories should be based on the principle of "high standards, strict requirements, and heavy compliance", in accordance with the "Zero-carbon Factory Evaluation Specification" (T CECA-G0171-2022), from compliance requirements, management requirements, infrastructure, energy and carbon emission intelligent information management system, energy and resource use, product ecological design, greenhouse gas emission reduction implementation, Carbon offsetting implements eight first-level indicators to comprehensively evaluate and score various conditions of the enterprise, summarizes and suggests the results of the enterprise's creation, and issues a zero-carbon factory certificate certified by a third-party authorized evaluation agency.
5. There are three misunderstandings about the creation of zero-carbon factories.
1) Misunderstandings in carbon emission accounting.
Corporate carbon emissions include Scope 1, Scope 2, Scope 3, and what we call zero-carbon factories include at least Scope 1 and Scope 2, while some companies only focus on Scope 2 electricity and ignore Scope 1 and Scope 2 steam.
Secondly, there are many ways to select carbon emission factors for electricity, including provincial and municipal carbon emission factors, regional carbon emission factors, and international carbon emission factors, and different carbon emission factors have a great impact on carbon emissions and evaluation results.
2) Misunderstandings about buying carbon credits.
Under the carbon neutrality rules, enterprises are allowed to neutralize their excess carbon sources through the purchase of carbon credits, resulting in some enterprises directly purchasing green electricity and CCER to neutralize their own energy-saving and carbon enhancement work, so as to achieve the publicity effect of "floating zero".
3) Short-term behavioral misunderstandings.
The creation of zero-carbon factories is a short-term goal, while the continuous maintenance of carbon emission reduction and "zero carbon" is a long-term process, especially when it comes to the purchase cost of carbon credits, which often some companies only get for one year"After the zero-carbon certification, the work of energy conservation and carbon reduction will no longer be carried out, and the validity of the certificate will no longer be maintained.