Climate change is a major challenge facing mankind in the 21st century, and one of the main reasons is the excessive use of fossil energy by mankind. In order to avoid serious economic, social and ecological impacts of climate change, the Paris Agreement has set a long-term goal of keeping the global average temperature rise within 2°C and striving to keep it within 1.5°C. At present, 54 countries in the world have reached their carbon emission peaks, accounting for 40% of the total global carbon emissions. Countries such as China have pledged to peak carbon emissions by 2030, when 58 countries around the world will achieve this goal, accounting for 60% of global carbon emissions. As countries implement green transformation strategies at the national level in order to achieve low-carbon goals, low-carbon development has become an important bargaining chip in the game of international discourse power, and will become a major strategy to guide the transformation of my country’s energy and industrial structure in the next few decades. Relevant studies show that solid waste treatment is the fourth largest emission source in the world, accounting for about 3%. In 2018, the national carbon emission was about 10 billion tons of CO2e, and the carbon emission of domestic waste treatment was 104 million tons of CO2e. As an important source of carbon emissions, the carbon emission reduction of domestic waste treatment is of great significance to the realization of the dual carbon goal. In response to hot issues such as the dual carbon goal and its realization path, industry experts and senior practitioners from Shanghai Environmental Institute conducted in-depth discussions based on their own work experience.

What is the two-carbon target?

Before understanding the two-carbon target, related concepts and some misunderstandings need to be explained. Regarding the definition of double carbon, it includes two parts: carbon peaking and carbon neutralization. Carbon peaking refers to the process in which total greenhouse gas emissions reach the highest value in a certain period and then gradually decreases; carbon neutrality refers to the process of reducing greenhouse gas emissions The total amount of emissions is reduced and absorbed at the source, offsetting the generated carbon dioxide emissions and achieving zero net emissions. There are generally two ways to reduce and offset carbon emissions: one is to remove greenhouse gases through specific methods, such as carbon capture (foresting carbon sinks or capturing CO2 with adsorption technology, etc.), carbon sequestration (passing the captured CO2 through high pressure Pipelines are stored underground or under the sea) and reuse of greenhouse gases (such as collecting landfill gas for energy recovery, capturing CO2 and then producing methane fuel with hydrogen, etc.); the second is to use renewable energy or change industrial processes to reduce carbon emissions. There are some misconceptions about the two-carbon target. First of all, the carbon peak is not the first to climb the peak, but the path design after reasonable research and judgment on the emission reduction path through industrial structure adjustment and technological improvement. Secondly, carbon neutrality is not achieved overnight, but with the support of policies, the state and various industry departments put forward long-term strategies and plans, and in the process, there will be cooperation and exploration in multiple ways and in multiple fields.

From the national, industry, regional, public and other levels, sort out the relevant policies in the solid waste field to achieve the dual-carbon goal, mainly including the following aspects. One is the carbon trading market. On January 5, 2021, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment officially released the “Administrative Measures for Carbon Emissions Trading (Trial)”, and my country’s carbon market will eventually cover eight major industries including power generation and petrochemicals. The solid waste industry is not among the eight major industries, and can participate in the certified voluntary emission reduction (CCER) project in the carbon market. According to the calculation of China Power Grid, through the sale of CCER, the waste incineration power generation project can increase revenue by 7.6 yuan per ton of waste processed, which can contribute 3% to 7% of the income elasticity every year. The second is the carbon footprint label. my country has been promoting the “Carbon Footprint Labeling” program since 2018. In the field of solid waste, in the future, if recycled products such as kitchen biogas residues, soil conditioners, RDF, construction particles and aggregates, and recycled plastic particles can be issued with traditional quality assessments At the same time, the report can also provide carbon label certification to inform consumers of carbon information of products in the form of carbon labels. It is foreseeable that the outlet for recycled products will be broader. The third is low-carbon parks. The vein industrial park in the waste treatment industry is a typical type of low-carbon park. It is dominated by waste incineration, and a low-carbon industrial park that combines kitchen, sludge, medical waste treatment, etc. can achieve solid waste synergy through an intensive collaborative model. disposal and utilization. Typical co-processing includes cogeneration, biogas power generation, etc. In addition, the exploration of resource utilization such as slag and fly ash in the park, and biogas purification and grid connection will further improve the energy efficiency level and help carbon emission reduction actions. The fourth is the carbon inclusive mechanism. It is generally divided into two forms: the first is a point system that motivates citizens or communities, that is, people’s low-carbon behavior in their daily work and life is monitored and converted into carbon points, which can be used to exchange for some commodities or discount coupons , such as the green account used in Shanghai’s early promotion of garbage classification. The second is the project system, through the calculation of small and micro low-carbon projects to obtain a certain carbon index to exchange for rewards, such as the installation of photovoltaic self-power supply in industrial parks, on-site biochemical machines to treat kitchen waste to reduce carbon emissions from transportation, etc.