On April 21, President XI Jinping replied to senior professors of USTB, affirming the positive contributions made by the university to the development of the national iron and steel industry. Meanwhile, he expressed his heartfelt congratulations on the 70th anniversary of the university and put forward ardent expectations for USTB to cultivate more high-quality talents and promote the innovation and development of the iron and steel industry as well as green and low-carbon development.

After 70 years of hard work, USTB has made important contributions to the rapid development of the national iron and steel industry. It is the bounden responsibility of USTBers to realize the green transformation of the iron and steel industry and the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. On April 22, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of USTB, the opening ceremony of USTB’s Innovation Research Institute for Carbon Neutrality and Dual Carbon Seminar was held in the Auditorium & Staff Activity Hall.

At the Conference

Numerous important figures attended the conference, including Prof. YIN Ruiyu, Prof. GAN Yong, Prof. XIE Jianxin and Prof. MAO Xinping, members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; Mr. HE Wenbo, Chancellor of the China Iron and Steel Association; Mr. YAO Lin, Secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group and Chairman of Aluminum Corporation of China; Mr. GAO Ruiping, Deputy Director of the National Natural Science Foundation of China; Mr. LI Xinchuang, Chancellor of the Metallurgical Industry Planning Research Institute and a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences; Mr. TIAN Zhiling, Executive Vice President of the Chinese Society for Metals; Mr. ZHAO Pei, former Executive Vice President of the Chinese Society for Metals; Mr. ZHANG Lifeng, President of North China University of Technology; Mr. HUANG Dao, Deputy Secretary General of the China Iron and Steel Association; Prof. WEI Wenning, Professor at the Beijing University of Technology; Mr. WANG Junshan, Deputy General Manager of Angang Group Beijing Research Institute; Mr. WU Liyun, Deputy General Manager of Shougang Jingtang Company; Prof. YANG Renshu, President of USTB; Prof. ZHANG Weidong and Prof. WANG Luning, Vice Presidents of USTB. Heads of relevant functional departments and second-level units as well as representatives of teachers and students attended the seminar.

The Opening Ceremony

At the opening ceremony, Prof. YIN Ruiyu, Prof. GAN Yong, Prof. HE Wenbo, Prof. GAO Ruiping, Prof. YANG Renshu, and Prof. MAO Xinping jointly unveiled the nameplate of Innovation Research Institute for Carbon Neutrality, with Prof. MAO Xinping serving as the president of the Institute.

The establishment of the Innovation Research Institute for Carbon Neutrality aims at combining the strength of predominant disciplines such as Materials, Metallurgy, Energy, Environment, Automation, Computer Science, Economics and Management, etc. With national strategic objectives of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality as task orientation, it will give full play to discipline advantages for carbon neutrality in the iron and steel industry to play a leading role in independent innovation of national strategic and key sectors.

Prof. ZHANG Weidong announced the list of the academic committee of the Innovation Research Institute for Carbon Neutrality. Prof. YANG Renshu awarded appointment letters to the present academic committee members.

Award Appointment Letters

At the Seminar, three guest speakers, including Mr. HE Wenbo, Chancellor of the China Iron and Steel Association; Mr. YU Yong, Chancellor and Chairman of HBIS Group; and Mr. LI Xinchuang, Chancellor of the Metallurgical Industry Planning Research Institute and a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences delivered keynote speeches on dual carbon issues respectively.

Mr. HE Wenbo made his speech

Mr. HE Wenbo firstly reviewed the low-carbon promotion of China’s iron and steel industry in his report titled “the Green Development of China's Iron and Steel Road ”. In 2021, the China Iron and Steel Association established the Work Promotion Committee for Low-Carbon in the Iron and Steel Industry, released an action proposal named A New Low-Carbon Journey for Steel Responsibility: Promotion of Lading Bill in the Iron and Steel Industry, and organized industry experts to complete the Neutral Vision Planning and Technological Roadmap for Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality in the Iron and Steel Industry. Besides, a list of low-carbon technologies in the iron and steel industry was put forward and a series of important documents were compiled, such as "Construction Guidelines for Low-Carbon Standard System in the Iron and Steel Industry" and "Implementation Plan for Quota Allocation of National Carbon Emissions Trading (in Iron and Steel Industry)".

He pointed out that “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality” is the top priority for the iron and steel industry. China’s representative iron and steel enterprises had carried out research and planning on the low-carbon path in the metallurgical process, striving to achieve a balance between ecosystem and economic benefits while achieving objectives of emission reduction. He stated that in order to effectively promote scientific and technological progress and low-carbon technology development in the iron and steel industry, the China Iron and Steel Association was committed to solving the existing problems in the process of scientific and technological innovation and research and development through the "World-Leading Low-Carbon Common Technology Development Support Program".

Mr. YU Yong made his speech

Mr. YU Yong emphasized in the enterprise report "Continuously Leading the Low-carbon and Green Development of Iron and Steel Industry: the Practice and Prospect of Low-carbon and Green Development of HBIS Group" that low-carbon and green development had gradually become the main theme of future global industrial development, and that China's iron and steel enterprises should achieve innovative breakthroughs in leading the low-carbon and green development of iron and steel worldwide. He claimed that HBIS Group had always practiced low-carbon and green development, adhering to the concept of "harmonious coexistence of people, iron and steel, as well as environment" to promote the reform and progress of enterprises. Moreover, it strove to lead the green development of the industry by taking ultra-low carbon emissions as the priority, green intelligence as the center, and hydrogen energy industrialization as the mainline. Meanwhile, HBIS would deepen upstream and downstream cooperation and build a green industrial chain, as well as establish technology alliances in order to conduct breakthrough technology research. He also suggested that in the future HBIS would promote high-quality development and continue to play a leading and exemplary role in low-carbon and green development through six low-carbon development technology routes and two digital carbon neutrality platforms.

Mr. LI Xinchuang made his speech

Mr. LI Xinchuang emphasized the importance of scientific planning for industry development in his industry planning report "Scientific Planning Promote Low-Carbon Development in the Iron and Steel Industry". He also reviewed the advantages and deficiencies in the development plan of China's iron and steel industry, and deeply interpreted the new requirements of the "14th Five-year Plan" for the high-quality development of the iron and steel industry. As regards the transformation to the high-quality and low-carbon iron and steel industry, he innovatively proposed the combination of "digitalization + low-carbon" which could be realized by establishing a digital platform of ultra-low emissions and low-carbon coordinated control based on the industrial Internet. As the Chancellor of the Metallurgical Industry Planning Research Institute, Mr. LI Xinchuang claimed that the institute would make efforts to achieve dual carbon goals continuously.

Prof. MAO Xinping made his speech

On behalf of USTB, Prof. MAO Xinping released USTB's Action Plan for Carbon Neutrality Innovation. He stressed that it was the historical mission of the university to serve the realization of the national carbon neutrality strategy. The university would build a platform for carbon-neutral technology innovation and achievement transformation by means of dominant disciplines to seize the opportunity of the national carbon neutrality strategy. It was also a great opportunity to speed up the construction of "Double First-class". He said that to achieve this goal, USTB would strengthen cutting-edge and key technology research and build a new strategic science and technology innovation platform while creating a new high-end intelligent library and cultivating innovative talents. In addition, local and international cooperation would be developed and extended. Through these measures, USTB is determined to make significant contributions to China’s carbon neutrality goal.

Draft: GUO Qiuju

Revesion: CHENG Mingyuan