In early November, the Chinese government announced an action plan for the promotion of cleaner production under the 14th five-year plan. The objective of the action plan is to facilitate the green transformation and reduce carbon emissions while mitigating environmental pollution

          for society. Key points of the guidance related to steel are summarised as follows:

• Establish a national system enabling the implementation of cleaner production practices; all industrial sectors to be covered by the system by 2025
• Improve significantly the efficiency of energy and water use in industrial sectors by Total emissions of COD (chemical oxygen demand), ammonia nitrogen, NOx, VOCs should be reduced by 8%, 8%, 10% and 10%, respectively, compared to 2020 levels.
• Expedite the substitution of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, with clean fuels in industrial sectors.
• Promote green design for industrial products by guiding manufacturing factories to optimise designs which minimise the environmental impact through the entire lifecycle of products.
• Facilitate low-carbon innovation and green transformation for industrial sectors, such as energy, steel, coke, building materials, electroplating and packaging. A total of 100 companies from those sectors will be selected to implement clean renovation.
• Promote demonstration projects on non-blast furnace based new ironmaking technologies and full-scrap EAF’s. Complete renovation for 520 Mt/a steel capacity towards ultra-low emission standard and renovation for 460 Mt/a coke capacity towards cleaner production by
• Promote the use of coal ash, industrial slag and mining tailings as feedstock for cement production.
• New buildings in urban areas should meet the national standard for green buildings. Promote the development of near-zero energy buildings and low-carbon buildings.

          To push forward improvement in energy efficiency, in late November, the Chinese government published a series of benchmarks for energy-intensive sectors. The criteria for the steel industry are shown in Table

-- World Steel Association