This report examines the low-carbon transition pathways for thermal/heating systems in China's steel industry, reviewing the policy drivers behind decarbonization and analyzing the technological trajectory across near-, medium-, and long-term horizons (2025–2060). It surveys and compares the applicability, economics, and emissions-reduction potential of key technologies—including waste heat recovery, system efficiency improvements, and hydrogen-based metallurgy—through in-depth case studies (HBIS Group's hydrogen metallurgy, Shougang Jingtang's process interface optimization, and Sinosteel/CISP's hydrogen-based smelting reduction, among others). It further identifies the practical barriers to scaling these technologies (high green hydrogen costs, renewable energy intermittency, stranded-asset risk, and weak cross-sector coordination mechanisms), and proposes policy recommendations to accelerate the sector's shift toward integration with renewable energy systems.

In March 2026, China’s 15th Five Year Plan set a target to build “around 100 national level zero-carbon industrial parks” – zones for industrial production with net-zero or close to zero carbon emissions. It marked an upgrade to what had previously been a series of pilot projects around the country and catapulted such zones to a national priority.

Examines the green hydrogen, ammonia, and methanol industry in China, contends that the sector is shifting from a supply-side capacity-expansion phase to a "demand-constrained" phase where commercial viability depends on forming a closed-loop offtake and consumption system, identifies critical bottlenecks—including high production costs (2–3 times higher than conventional routes), insufficient port refueling infrastructure, heavy reliance on volatile international certification (e.g., ISCC) and external demand, and the failure of green premiums to translate into stable domestic willingness-to-pay—and proposes a strategic policy reorientation from merely "building production capacity" to actively "creating demand" through enforceable domestic demand-side mechanisms (e.g., non-electric consumption targets, green procurement, and carbon market integration), enhanced domestic green certification and pricing capabilities, consumption-side incentives, and stricter project screening focused on commercial closure, in order to unlock the industry's low-carbon value, reduce dependence on external rules, and support its sustainable commercial scaling and contribution to China's energy transition.

In its document, the European Commission explicitly stated that China accounts for more than 80 percent of global production capacity in the battery manufacturing and solar photovoltaic sectors; at the same time, the European wind power industry is facing cost pressures from low-priced imports from China. On April 27, China’s Ministry of Commerce responded by stating that the bill constitutes “serious institutional discrimination” and will undermine fair competition.

As the parks multiply, unified standards and better carbon accounting are needed to maximize their potential.

This policy brief analyzes the structural shift in China's fossil energy consumption from fuel to feedstock, identifying provinces with high feedstock dependence and assessing the implications for subnational decarbonization under the "dual control" framework for carbon emissions. It combines quantitative analysis of national and provincial energy statistics from the China Energy Statistical Yearbook (2019–2023) with a classification framework that ranks provinces based on the share of coal, oil, and natural gas used as feedstock relative to their total final consumption of each fuel. Policy recommendations are centered on accelerating the deployment of green hydrogen, ammonia, and methanol as substitutes for fossil feedstocks in carbon-intensive industries, supported by a case study of Inner Mongolia's green hydrogen industry plan.