Bolstering ecological and environmental governance
Hebei province is implementing a new development concept and using innovative methods to boost ecological and environmental governance, and according to Ni Yuefeng, secretary of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, implementing the new development concept marks a profound change in terms of overall development.
“It is necessary to persist in integrating innovation into various fields of economic and social development while comprehensively promoting innovative ideas, mechanisms and work,” Ni said.
As an ecological and environmental support area for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the province has optimized its green performance in key industries such as steel, incentivizing enterprises to reduce emissions and realize low-carbon growth through practical policies. As a result, the technological equipment and environmental governance level of Hebei’s steel industry have been significantly enhanced. Specifically, blast furnaces with a capacity of less than 1,000 cubic meters and converters with a capacity of less than 100 tons have been phased out, and advanced technologies such as low-carbon metallurgy and clean steelmaking have been adopted. Smart production lines and digitized workshops have also been constructed.
The improvements enhance the environmental standards of enterprises and also drive the continuous achievement of innovation in technology, management and process.
“To encourage more enterprises to become ‘excellent players’ in environmental protection, it is vital to strengthen benchmark guidance,” said Bai Yu, head of the comprehensive coordination team of the A-level environmental performance program at the Department of Ecology and Environment of Hebei province.
Tangshan Reafon Iron and Steel became an A-level environmental performance company in August 2022 and has increased expenditure on environmental protection since the beginning of this year, with about 700 million yuan ($96.6 million) being invested in related automatic facilities.
On March 23, in its automatic dumping room, the dumper held fully loaded trucks tightly and unloaded materials. The dumper’s dust collection and extraction equipment started simultaneously.
A deputy general manager of the company said that it has comprehensively improved on aspects such as emission and clean transportation.
Bai said Hebei will implement a leading A-level performance plan this year and select one to three model A-level enterprises in each sector to set benchmarks for others, with the goal of driving overall industry improvement.
The province also attaches importance to the critical role of scientific and technological innovation, exploring green governance models for saline-alkali land and insisting on the combined approach of “suiting seeds to the land” and “adapting land to the seeds”. It has achieved a win-win situation of improving the soil ecological environment and developing characteristic agriculture.
“We adhere to the combined approach of ‘suiting seeds to the land’ and ‘adapting land to the seeds’, selecting 25 mature varieties such as drought-resistant alkaline wheat, salt-tolerant rice, millet and quinoa, and promoting them in a zoned and classified manner”, said Zheng Hongwei, deputy inspector of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Hebei province.
Hebei has explored and formed eight major industrial models, including drought-resistant alkaline wheat sowing, standardized production of salt-tolerant rice and saline-alkali land cultivation of facility fruits and vegetables.
“On the one hand we improve the salinity of the soil, while on the other hand, we select adaptable varieties.
“Through dual efforts, we achieve the mutual promotion of suitable planting and soil improvement, forming a more eco-friendly, green, low-cost and sustainable saline-alkali land governance model,” Zheng said.
As cultivation of superior varieties and the governance of salinealkali land proceed simultaneously, 333,333 hectares of saline-alkali land in the province has gradually been transformed into a new grain barn. In 2023, the autumn sowing area of drought-resistant alkaline wheat reached some 103,000 hectares, an increase of about 36,300 hectares over the previous year, and two drought-resistant alkaline wheat processing enterprises were recognized as provincial leading enterprises.