“Green Productivity” Incubator: How Can Zero-Carbon Parks Reshape the Core Competitiveness of Manufacturing?

With the acceleration of global climate governance and the continuous rise of green trade barriers such as the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), the 2025 Government Work Report included “zero-carbon parks” as a national strategy for the first time, marking a shift in China's manufacturing industry from passive emission reduction to the proactive construction of green productivity—a systematic competitiveness integrating technological innovation, green energy, and efficient management. In this process, zero-carbon parks are becoming the core carriers for restructuring the industrial ecosystem: reducing product carbon footprints through direct green electricity supply, improving resource efficiency through process innovation, and ultimately forging a “green passport” to break through international markets.

I. Policy Drive: Zero-Carbon Parks Elevated to a National Strategic Competitive Tool

1. Top-level Design Anchors the Direction of "Dual Carbon" Efforts

Accelerated Policy Iteration: From the first mention of "establishing zero-carbon parks" at the 2024 Central Economic Work Conference to the eight tasks outlined in the 2025 "Notice on the Development of Zero-Carbon Parks," the national level is attempting to use parks as units to open up a full-chain decarbonization path of "energy-industry-trade." The core indicator, "unit energy consumption carbon emissions" (CO₂ emissions per ton of standard coal), directly targets the high energy consumption pain points of the manufacturing industry. ₂ emissions

Local Practices Take the Lead: Inner Mongolia and Fujian have already released four local standards, and cases such as the Ordos Zero-Carbon Industrial Park and the Xiamen Xiangyu Bonded Zone have been listed as national-level models, providing empirical evidence for national standards.

2. The Key to Breaking Through International Green Trade Barriers

Products such as "green steel" and "zero-carbon aluminum" produced in zero-carbon parks, with their traceable green electricity supply and full-process carbon management system, can significantly reduce the embodied carbon emissions of export products. For example, the EU CBAM mechanism requires disclosure of the full life-cycle carbon footprint of products such as steel and aluminum, while the Ordos green electricity aluminum production project reduces CO₂ emissions by 145,200 tons per ton of aluminum, ₂ reducing costs by 30%, becoming a core competitiveness to break through barriers.

II. Technological Path: A Dual Revolution of Direct Green Electricity Supply and Process Innovation

1. Energy Transformation: From "Grid Dependence" to "Wind-Solar-Hydrogen-Storage Self-Circulation"

Ordos Model—Wind-Solar-Hydrogen-Storage Vehicle Closed-Loop System

The world's first zero-carbon industrial park, through a supporting 385,000-kilowatt wind-solar-storage project, achieves 80% direct green electricity supply, with the remaining 20% adjusted through a smart Internet of Things and two-way grid regulation to achieve 100% zero-carbon energy supply. Its green hydrogen production technology is used in aluminum electrolysis production, replacing the traditional coal-fired aluminum smelting process, making "zero-carbon aluminum" both low-carbon and cost-effective.

 

Xiamen Xiangyu Model—Distributed Photovoltaics + Smart Energy Storage

The Xiamen Xiangyu Bonded Zone uses 60,000 square meters of warehouse rooftops to install photovoltaic panels, generating 9.7 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, far exceeding the park's own electricity consumption of 3.51 million kilowatt-hours, with surplus electricity being fed into the grid and supplemented by a 2.5-megawatt energy storage power station for peak regulation. The electrification rate of equipment reaches 100%, with a single electric forklift reducing carbon emissions by 19.5 tons per year, and the carbon intensity of logistics decreasing by 40%.

2. Process Innovation: Digital Empowerment for Full-Chain Energy Efficiency Leap

“Energy and Carbon Dual Control” Platform Drives Fine Management

The Ordos park uses a digital platform to monitor energy consumption and carbon emissions in real time, dynamically optimizing production processes. For example, industrial wastewater, after pretreatment, biological treatment, and membrane treatment, has a reuse rate of 95%, and concentrated brine is crystallized into industrial salt for secondary sales, achieving zero emissions and resource value-added.

 

Intelligent Manufacturing Reshapes Production Logic

Xiamen Xiangyu's port intelligent logistics platform improves customs clearance efficiency by 20%, and the intelligent transformation of the Hai Run terminal saves 18.94%. Through AI quality control system analysis of the causes of defective products, improved product yield leads to lower energy consumption per unit output value.

III. Industrial Restructuring: From "Point Emission Reduction" to "Green Value Chain Ecosystem"

1. Vertical Integration—"Green to Green" Industrial Symbiosis

The Ordos park has attracted 10 new energy companies such as Longi and Huajing, forming a closed-loop industrial chain of "green electricity production → zero-carbon aluminum/hydrogen energy → new energy heavy trucks/batteries." Green energy produces green products, and green products in turn support green transportation, building a "wind-solar-hydrogen-storage vehicle" full-industry matrix, with an output value exceeding 20 billion yuan in 2024.

 

2. Horizontal Collaboration—Parks Become Resource Allocation Hubs

Xiamen Xiangyu transmits surplus green electricity to nearby free trade zone charging stations for use by logistics companies. Electric trucks, due to their low operating costs (saving 300,000 yuan per year for a single gantry crane), are accelerating their popularization, driving the decarbonization of regional transportation chains. This "park-city" energy synergy model allows the zero-carbon effect to penetrate from the production end to the consumption end.

IV. Breaking Through Challenges: Three-Dimensional Support from Standards, Finance, and Talent

1. Establishing a National Certification System Is Urgent

Currently, the evaluation of zero-carbon parks suffers from the problem of "feudal division" of local standards. It is urgently needed to use the "Zero-Carbon Industrial Park Construction Specifications" as a basis to unify carbon emission accounting methods (such as green electricity traceability mechanisms) to avoid enterprises undergoing repeated certification due to differences in standards.

Region/Institution	Standard Name	Standard Number	Publication Time
Local Standard
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region	Specifications for the Construction of Zero-Carbon Industrial Parks	DB15/T 2948-2023	2023 April
Xiongan New Area	Evaluation Standard for Zero-Carbon Parks in Xiongan New Area Part 1: Public Building Parks	DB1331/T 069-2023	2023 December
Hainan Province	Technical Standards for the Creation of the Boao Near-Zero Carbon Demonstration Zone	Unpublished Number	2024 March
Fujian Province	Evaluation Criteria for the Creation of Low- and Near-Zero Carbon Industrial Parks	DB35/T 2198-2024	2024 July
Yancheng City (Jiangsu Province)	Construction Specifications for Coastal (Near) Zero-Carbon Industrial Parks	DB3209/T 1275-2024	2024 July
Jiangsu Province	Construction Guide for Zero-Carbon Parks	Unpublished Number (Under Review)	2025 July
Group Standard
Guangdong Standardization Association	Evaluation Specifications for Low-Carbon/Zero-Carbon Parks	T/GDDTJS 06-2022	2022 Released in the year
China Association for the Promotion of Science and Technology Industrialization	Technical Guide for the Design and Evaluation of Smart Zero-Carbon Industrial Parks	T/CSPSTC 51-2020	2020 Released in the year
Shanghai Energy Efficiency and Environmental Protection Service Industry Association	Technical Specifications for the Creation and Evaluation of Zero-Carbon Logistics Parks	T/SEESA 009-2022	2022 Released in the year
China Energy Conservation Association	Technical Specifications for the Evaluation of Zero-Carbon Parks	T/CECA-G 0344-2025	2025 March
Shanxi Provincial Environmental Science Society	Technical Specifications for the Creation and Evaluation of Zero-Carbon (Near-Zero Carbon) Industrial Parks	T/SXSES 04-2024	2024 Released in the year

 

2. Innovation of Green Financial Instruments

Drawing on models such as Wuxi's "拨改转" (conversion of fiscal subsidies into equity) and green electricity REITs, to reduce the financing costs of park renovation. The State Development Bank has already provided medium- and long-term loans for the Ordos project, and in the future, it is necessary to expand the application of green bonds and carbon revenue sharing tools.

3. Cultivating "Carbon Masters" Composite Talents

There is a shortage of composite talents who understand wind, solar, and energy storage technologies and can adjust AI systems. It is recommended to jointly build training bases between schools and enterprises, such as the cooperation between Xiamen University and the Xiangyu Park to develop "Energy and Carbon Management" courses to fill the gap of more than 100,000 job vacancies per year.

Conclusion: From "Manufacturing Rust Belt" to "Green Corridor"

Zero-carbon parks are evolving from technology testing grounds into green productivity engines: Ordos uses wind and solar resources to replace industrial competitiveness, while Xiamen Xiangyu uses digitalization to restructure port efficiency. Both demonstrate that the essence of green transformation is not cost, but a generational leap in competitiveness. When parks connect from "bonsai" to "forest", China's manufacturing industry will truly achieve a transformation from "scale expansion" to "quality leap", winning a voice in the global green trade map.

Data confirms the future: It is estimated that if 30% of the 15,000 industrial parks nationwide are transformed into zero-carbon parks, it can reduce national total carbon emissions by 10% and create a trillion-level green manufacturing market. This revolution, which began with energy, will ultimately reshape the underlying logic of industrial civilization.