On October 24, the "2024 China Cement Double Carbon Conference and the 12th Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Technology Exchange Conference" was held in Wuhu, Anhui Province. Yan Haochun, General Manager of the Certification and Evaluation Center of the State Inspection Group, brought the theme report "Building a Dream of Blue Sky: Exploring the Green Footprint of the Cement Industry in the Context of the Carbon Market".
Yan Haochun pointed out that under the background of carbon market, the cement industry is facing the risk of rising costs.
1. The cost of quota clearance. Cement production is a high carbon emission industry. With the promotion of the carbon market, enterprises need to purchase carbon emission rights for the part exceeding their own carbon emission quotas, which will increase the operating costs of enterprises. For example, if the carbon price is 100 yuan/ton, and a cement enterprise's annual carbon emissions exceed the quota by 100000 tons, then the enterprise needs to spend an additional 10 million yuan per year to buy carbon quotas.
2. The cost of technological upgrading and transformation. In order to reduce carbon emissions, enterprises need to upgrade and transform production equipment and processes, such as adopting new energy-saving equipment and improving production processes. These technological upgrades and transformations require a large amount of capital investment, and the return on investment cycle may be long. For example, the construction of waste heat power generation systems and carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) projects require huge financial support.
3. For the cost of energy transformation, cement enterprises may need to increase the use of clean energy, such as purchasing green power, but the cost of green power is relatively high at present, which will also increase the energy cost of enterprises.
