Recently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and six other departments jointly issued the Implementation Plan for the Collection and Promotion of National Key Low Carbon Technologies. The Implementation Plan focuses on the goal of carbon reduction potential and effect of technology to select and promote demonstration technologies with carbon reduction potential and scientific and technological innovation characteristics, and promotion technologies with significant carbon reduction effect and suitable for large-scale application according to the progressiveness and maturity of technology.

To guide various industries to actively explore green and low-carbon transformation paths and solutions, the Implementation Plan proposes five key directions, covering key areas of greenhouse gas emission reduction such as energy, industry, agriculture, construction, and transportation.

Firstly, the green and low-carbon transformation of energy, mainly including renewable energy development and application technology, advanced energy storage technology, energy Internet technology, hydrogen energy development and utilization technology, etc. Among them, hydrogen energy development and utilization technologies include low-cost (off grid, interruptible load) large-scale hydrogen production technology based on renewable energy, distributed renewable energy hydrogen production technology, efficient purification technology for industrial by-product hydrogen, economically safe and efficient hydrogen energy storage and transportation technology, hydrogen fuel cell development, and fuel cell distributed power generation technology.

Secondly, carbon reduction technologies in key areas, mainly in the industrial, construction and transportation sectors. Among them, carbon reduction technologies in the industrial sector include electric energy substitution technology, residual energy utilization technology, low-carbon smelting and process optimization technology for steel and non-ferrous metals, short process optimization and reconstruction technology for petrochemical industry, and energy-saving transformation and upgrading technology for key equipment in petrochemical, chemical, coking, building materials and other fields.

Thirdly, carbon storage and sequestration technologies, mainly including carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology and ecological sink enhancement and monitoring technology. CCUS technology includes full lifecycle high energy efficiency and low cost CCUS technology, CCUS and industrial full process coupling technology, CCUS technology applied to mobile sources such as ships, new carbon capture materials and low energy consumption and low cost carbon capture technology, marine saline water storage technology, geological storage monitoring and verification technology, efficient and low-cost direct air capture of carbon dioxide technology combined with biomass negative carbon technology, etc.

Fourthly, digital empowerment technology, which mainly includes technologies for improving efficiency through digital empowerment, intelligent management of greenhouse gas emissions, and carbon reduction technologies of data centers.

Fifthly, non-carbon dioxide emission reduction technologies for methane, hydrofluorocarbons, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) among other greenhouse gas emission reduction technologies.