Not long ago, the national carbon emission trading market officially launched online trading, becoming the largest carbon market in the world. Building a national carbon market is a major innovation in using market mechanisms to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote green and low-carbon development, which will help to achieve the "double carbon" goal.

The global trend of low-carbon energy and industrial development has taken shape

What is carbon peaking and carbon neutralization? Generally speaking, carbon peak refers to that carbon dioxide emissions reach the maximum in a certain year, and then enter the decline stage; Carbon neutralization means that the carbon dioxide produced by a specific organization or the whole social activities is absorbed and offset by natural and man-made means such as afforestation, marine absorption and engineering storage, so as to realize the relative "zero emission" of carbon dioxide from human activities.

The international community generally believes that excessive carbon dioxide emission is the main factor causing climate change. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide emitted by human activities lead to global warming, exacerbate the instability of the climate system, and lead to frequent and increased intensity of extreme weather in some areas, such as drought, typhoon, high-temperature heat wave, cold wave, sandstorm and so on. Carbon emissions are closely related to the types of energy and their processing and utilization. At present, the global trend of low-carbon energy and industrial development has been formed, and countries have introduced carbon neutralization schedules.

China has achieved remarkable results in emission reduction in recent years. The carbon emission intensity in 2019 is 48.4% lower than that in 2005. China's initiative to put forward the "double carbon" goal will usher in a historic turning point in carbon emission reduction, which is also an inevitable choice to promote the upgrading of China's energy and related industries and realize the long-term, healthy and sustainable development of the national economy. To achieve the "double carbon" goal is not to completely ban carbon dioxide emissions, but to promote carbon dioxide absorption while reducing carbon dioxide emissions, offset emissions with absorption, and promote the gradual transformation of energy structure from high carbon to low carbon or even no carbon. Achieving the goal of "double carbon" is a broad and profound systematic change, and the energy revolution will be the top priority of this systematic change.

Establish an energy system dominated by renewable energy and multi energy complementary

As far as China is concerned, the current carbon emission mainly comes from the utilization process of fossil energy. According to the second biennial update report on climate change of the people's Republic of China, energy activities are the main source of greenhouse gas emissions in China, accounting for about 86.8% of China's total carbon dioxide emissions. Fossil energy plays an important role in energy activities.

Can we solve the problem of carbon emission without or with less fossil energy? People focus on renewable energy. Renewable energy such as solar energy, wind energy, hydro energy and geothermal energy does not emit carbon dioxide and is more friendly to the environment. In recent years, China has actively distributed the renewable energy industry. Relevant data show that during the 13th Five Year Plan period, China's hydropower, wind power, photovoltaic, nuclear power under construction and other indicators remained the first in the world; By the end of 2020, the installed capacity of clean energy power generation in China has increased to 1.083 billion kw, accounting for nearly 50% of the total installed capacity.

Although some achievements have been made in the development of renewable energy, it will take time to replace fossil energy and become the main body of China's energy consumption structure. At present, renewable energy has the characteristics of low energy density, uneven temporal and spatial distribution, instability and high cost, which has become the bottleneck of its large-scale application. In the future, fossil energy will still play an important role in China's energy structure. Clean and efficient utilization of fossil energy and large-scale utilization of renewable energy are the only way to achieve the goal of "double carbon".

Coal, oil, natural gas, renewable energy and nuclear energy are the five most used energy sources in China at this stage. The energy revolution under the guidance of the "double carbon" goal means that the traditional energy system dominated by fossil energy should be transformed into an energy system dominated by renewable energy and multi energy complementary, so as to promote the upgrading of China's energy and related industries.

It is imperative to break the barriers between energy, promote multi energy complementarity, learn from each other, and improve the overall utilization rate of energy. Taking petroleum and coal as an example, China is short of petroleum resources, and there is a shortage of basic petrochemical products, which restricts the development of downstream fine chemical industry; China's coal resources account for about 95% of the total fossil resources. If it can be used as raw materials to produce clean fuels and basic chemicals, it will become a supplementary way to alleviate the pressure of oil supply and make up for the defects of petrochemical industry.

Leading the new pattern of low-carbon development with technological innovation

Develop large-scale energy storage technology and improve the proportion and utilization efficiency of renewable energy. Large scale energy storage is the necessary technical support for the full development and utilization of renewable energy, and can effectively solve the problems of power grid operation safety, power and electricity balance, renewable energy consumption and so on. Taking the energy storage "rookie" all vanadium flow battery as an example, it uses the reversible mutual conversion between vanadium ions of different valence states to complete the cycle process of charging, discharging and recharging, so as to realize the "customized" conversion between chemical energy and electric energy. Like the power "bank", it has great potential. Only by making key breakthroughs in large-scale energy storage technology can we pave the way for large-scale storage of renewable energy.

Develop key technologies for multi energy integration and large-scale application. Still take the modern coal chemical industry and petrochemical industry as an example. The production of olefins, aromatics and other bulk chemicals through coal chemical industry forms an effective supplement to petrochemical industry.

Develop clean and efficient utilization technologies of fossil energy. On the one hand, the carbon emissions of large carbon emitters such as steel, cement and chemical industry are mainly related to industrial production processes. Therefore, we must break through the key bottleneck and core technology of industrial process reengineering in order to achieve carbon emission reduction in these industries. On the other hand, through technological breakthrough, we will transform valuable carbon based molecules in fossil energy into chemicals and new materials, and seek a new route of high-value, efficient and clean transformation of fossil energy.

China has actively carried out R & D and research and deployment of key technologies in relevant fields. For example, relying on the national key R & D plan, the Ministry of science and technology has deployed a series of carbon neutralization related research in clean and efficient utilization of coal and new energy-saving technologies, renewable energy and hydrogen energy technologies, energy storage and smart grid technologies, and will launch the key special project of "research and demonstration of key carbon neutralization technologies". CAS has completed projects such as "carbon revenue and expenditure certification and related issues in response to climate change" and "key technologies and demonstration of clean and efficient cascade utilization of low-grade coal", established a clean energy innovation research institute, launched the pilot project of "transformative clean energy key technologies and demonstration", and further promoted the demonstration and application of key technologies of multi-energy integration. Under the guidance of these overall arrangements, China has achieved some innovations in common support technologies for the "double carbon" goal, providing continuous support for emission reduction in various fields. Such as hydrogen energy and energy storage technology, advanced safe nuclear energy technology, carbon dioxide capture, utilization and storage (CCUs) technology, etc. In October 2020, the thousand ton "liquid sunlight" synthesis demonstration project was successfully put into operation. The project uses renewable energy such as solar energy to generate electricity and electrolytic water to produce "green" hydrogen energy, and converts carbon dioxide hydrogenation into "green" liquid fuels such as methanol. All these are beneficial technological exploration for China to achieve the goal of "double carbon".

China's energy application scenarios are complex. Typical regions can be selected to promote cross domain integration demonstration according to regional characteristics, explore the path and mode of leading the energy revolution with technological innovation, and form a new pattern of low-carbon development from point to area.

The realization of the "double carbon" goal is not only a gradual process, but also a systematic project involving the whole society. Actively promote technological innovation, fully mobilize science and technology, industry, finance and other factors, and through the concerted efforts of the whole society, we will be able to promote energy reform, achieve the "double carbon" goal, and go further and better on the road of green development.