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Factories are the main body of green manufacturing and the "core unit" for achieving the green and low-carbon transformation of industry. "Made in China 2025" takes "comprehensively promoting green manufacturing" as a strategic priority and task, and proposes to "build green factories, achieve intensive factory buildings, harmless raw materials, clean production, waste resource utilization, and low-carbon energy".

Against this backdrop, in 2018, the national standard "General Rules for Green Factory Evaluation", proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and drafted by the China Electronics Standardization Institute, was released for the first time. Up to now, it has supported the cultivation and creation of 6,430 national-level green factories and tens of thousands of provincial and municipal-level green factories.

Seven years after its release, the "General Rules for the Evaluation of Green Factories" completed its first revision and solicited public opinions in April this year. Why was this standard revised? What changes have been made after the revision?

Reconstruct the "five modernizations" characteristics of green factories

According to a relevant official from the drafting group of the national standard "General Rules for Green Factory Evaluation", as China enters the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, it has entered a critical period for the green and low-carbon transformation of its industry. However, the proportion of traditional industries in our country remains relatively high. The situation of a coal-biased energy structure and low energy efficiency has not been fundamentally resolved. The rigid constraints of resources and the environment continue to tighten, and international green trade barriers are gradually intensifying. In response to the new goals and tasks of industrial green development in the new era, the revised standards have updated the definition of a green factory, changing it to "a factory that has achieved low-carbon energy, efficient resource utilization, clean production, green products, and intensive land use." The new standard has restructured the "five modernizations" characteristics of green factories and regarded them as first-level indicators, replacing the first-level indicator names mainly based on evaluation elements in the 2018 version of the standard.

In terms of energy decarbonization, secondary indicators such as energy consumption intensity, carbon emission intensity, and the utilization rate of renewable energy should be the main focus. The constraints on energy consumption intensity and carbon emission intensity should be strengthened to guide the transformation of the energy consumption structure.

In terms of resource efficiency, it is proposed to focus on secondary indicators such as raw material consumption intensity, raw material utilization rate, recycled material utilization rate, water extraction intensity, industrial water reuse rate, and comprehensive utilization rate of general industrial solid waste, to guide the reduction of resource consumption and the improvement of resource utilization efficiency.

In terms of production purification, secondary indicators such as production processes and equipment, green and low-carbon transformation and upgrading, and the generation or emission intensity of major pollutants are proposed to guide further exploration of energy conservation and carbon reduction potential.

In terms of product greening, the original evaluation requirements such as green design and product carbon footprint should be maintained. At the same time, it is proposed that each industry can further expand the proportion of green output value and the characteristic indicators of product green attributes based on its own circumstances, such as the implementation of "green product" related work. It has replaced the separate requirements for the use of hazardous substances and energy conservation in the 2018 version, avoiding possible situations where the original individual requirements are not applicable.

In terms of land use intensification, the original requirements for buildings and lighting have been removed. The focus is on the core indicator of land output rate, reflecting the orientation of industrial land use intensification.

Set multiple "hard thresholds" for the first time

According to the reporter's understanding, compared with the 2018 version, the new standard has established an evaluation index system for green factories, including two aspects: basic requirements and evaluation index requirements.

In terms of basic requirements, the 2018 version only proposed in the basic compliance requirements clause that green factories should be established in accordance with the law, and during the construction and production process, they should abide by relevant laws, regulations, policies and standards, and have no major or above safety, environmental protection, quality and other accidents in the past three years. The newly revised standard puts forward 11 specific requirements and sets multiple "thresholds".

In terms of compliance, the new standards stipulate that green factories should meet the following requirements: no safety, quality, environmental protection or other illegal or non-compliant behaviors have occurred in the past three years; Do not use or produce backward production processes, technologies, equipment and products listed in the elimination category of the "Catalogue for the Guidance of Industrial Structure Adjustment". The main energy-consuming products and equipment newly put into use in the past three years should reach the level of Grade 2 of the applicable national mandatory energy efficiency standards. Meet the requirements of the national mandatory energy consumption limit standard level 2 and the general value of industrial water quota.

In terms of energy conservation and environmental protection, the new standards require: proposing medium - and long-term plans, annual goals, indicators and implementation plans for green and low-carbon development; The pollutant discharge levels meet the requirements of national and local standards, and the total amount of pollutant discharge complies with the national and local total control indicators.

In terms of information disclosure, the new standards also put forward two "hard requirements" : accounting for and reporting greenhouse gas emissions; Disclose information related to green and low-carbon development.

The person in charge of the standard drafting group stated that during the formulation of the new standard, the requirements of national standards such as mandatory energy consumption and energy efficiency, the provision of measuring instruments, industrial water quotas, greenhouse gas emission accounting and reporting requirements, quantification of product carbon footprints, and green product evaluation, as well as industry standards such as clean production, were strictly implemented. The standard adheres to the guidance of "efficiency, greenness, circularity, and low carbon" to enhance the effective connection and coordination of standards.

Strengthen green management throughout the entire life cycle

In addition, the "thresholds" proposed by the newly revised standards in terms of sustainable development and green management throughout the entire life cycle have also drawn attention.

Firstly, the four major management systems were listed as hard and fast conditions for the first time. The new standard proposes that quality management systems, occupational health and safety management systems, environmental management systems and energy management systems should be established, implemented and maintained in accordance with the requirements of GB/T 19001, GB/T 45001, GB/T 24001, GB/T 23331 or relevant industry applicable standards, or the above-mentioned relevant international standards.

In addition, the new standard proposes to carry out green procurement, establish mechanisms for supplier selection, risk classification, review and supervision, performance evaluation and emergency management, and give priority to purchasing energy-saving, water-saving, material-saving and other products and services that are beneficial to environmental protection.

The person in charge of the standard drafting group stated that the new standard, which centers on the idea of comprehensive scoring based on quantitative performance indicators, has been preliminarily verified in the evaluation practices of green factories in various industries including petrochemicals, and data research has been conducted in the dynamic management of green factories, making it feasible. After revision, the standard will more scientifically and reasonably guide and enhance the quality and efficiency of green factories' green, low-carbon and high-quality development, with the aim of playing a greater role in improving the green level of industry, promoting the green, low-carbon and high-quality development of industries, and facilitating the "dual carbon" goals.