it is really necessary to build a new one, we must formulate a capacity replacement plan and implement capacity replacement. This requirement can be said to be familiar in the cement industry. The competent authorities have also issued the Measures for the Implementation of Capacity Replacement in the Cement and Glass Industry. In addition, the cement industry is still an industry with serious overcapacity, so the replacement of production capacity should be strict and not be empty.
From the recent documents issued by the state, it can be clearly realized that the state continues to emphasize the importance of strictly implementing the policy of capacity replacement.
In November last year, the State Council issued a circular on the Action Plan for Continuous Improvement of Air Quality (Guofa [2023] 24). The Action Plan calls for resolutely curbing the blind launching of projects with high energy consumption, high emissions and low levels. New reconstruction and expansion projects strictly implement the relevant requirements of national industrial planning, industrial policy, ecological environment zoning control scheme, planning environmental assessment, project environmental assessment, energy conservation review, capacity replacement, total amount control of key pollutants, regional reduction of pollutant emissions, carbon emission peak target and so on, and adopt clean transportation mode in principle. For projects involving capacity replacement, new projects can be put into operation only after the replacement capacity and its supporting facilities are shut down. In January
this year, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and other five departments issued the Opinions on Promoting the Implementation of Ultra-low Emission in Cement Industry (No.5, 2024). Among the key tasks, the Opinion first calls for optimizing and adjusting the industrial structure. We should strictly implement the policy of capacity replacement, strengthen the control of excess capacity, resolutely curb new capacity in violation of regulations, and strictly prohibit new cement clinker production capacity in key areas.
However, it is surprising to find many problems in the replacement of production capacity in the cement industry in the central supervision of ecological environment protection. At the beginning of
this year, in the feedback from the Central Second Eco-environmental Protection Supervision Group to Henan Province, the relevant counties and cities in Xinxiang issued documents to avoid capacity replacement in violation of regulations, weakening the requirement of capacity reduction substitution for the new cement clinker production line of Huanshan Environmental Protection Technology Company to equivalent substitution. In May
this year, the Central Second Eco-environmental Protection Supervision Group inspected Zhejiang Province and found that the responsibility for air pollution prevention and control in some key cities was not in place, and the "two high" projects were not strictly controlled. It was mentioned again that some cement enterprises failed to strictly implement the policy of capacity replacement and increased clinker production capacity in violation of regulations.
These two places are the key areas for the continuous improvement of air quality designated by the state.
As mentioned above, is there any case that the requirement of capacity reduction substitution of new cement clinker production line is weakened to equivalent substitution? Are there any manipulations in the process of project construction? Shouldn't this be a serious self-examination in the industry? Do we have to wait until we are caught red-handed in the supervision of ecological environment protection?
