China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) elected Liu Jian as its 14th council chairman (rotating) at a recent meeting in Shijiazhuang, with the new leader pledging to advance the sector's green and low-carbon transition as the path to high-quality sustainable development.

Liu said the industry must persist with the "dual carbon" goals, continue implementing the "energy-carbon efficiency improvement project" and accelerate the comprehensive green transformation of the sector.

He called for completing ultra-low emission retrofits across remaining steel capacity, promoting advanced pollution-reduction and carbon-cutting technologies, and advancing differentiated policy support based on environmental performance grading.

CISA data showed that as of end-June, 299 companies had completed or partially completed ultra-low emission retrofits and assessment monitoring. Among them, 272 enterprises finished the full retrofit process, covering roughly 924 Mtpa of crude steel capacity, with investment of about 466 yuan per tonne of steel and operating costs of about 197 yuan per tonne.

Compared with 2019, emissions per tonne of steel from key surveyed enterprises in the first half of this year fell 51.4% for chemical oxygen demand, 47.7% for ammonia nitrogen and 73.7% for suspended solids in external wastewater, while sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and nitrogen oxide emissions in exhaust gas dropped 66.5%, 55.9% and 60.2% respectively.

Liu said the industry should shift from "dual control of energy consumption" to "dual control of carbon emissions" and carry out systematic energy-carbon efficiency improvement work across the sector. He urged selecting, promoting and applying excellent energy-saving and carbon-reduction technologies to raise the industry's carbon efficiency level and fully achieve the national target of raising the average share of capacity meeting current energy efficiency benchmark levels by 20 percentage points by end-2028.

He also called for improving the EPD platform across the steel supply chain, expanding the coverage of low-carbon steel standards, and enhancing mutual recognition with upstream and downstream industries and international platforms. Companies should establish carbon asset management systems and strengthen capacity for carbon market participation, while cooperating with the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on research into the next quota allocation plan and accounting methods.