The three national departments jointly issued the "Notice on Launching the Construction of Zero-Carbon Parks."

The National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the National Energy Administration jointly... On July 1, 2025, the "Notice on Launching the Construction of Zero-Carbon Parks" (NDRC Environmental Resources [2025] No. 910) was jointly issued, officially launching the application process for the construction of national-level zero-carbon parks. This policy initiative is an important practical step in implementing the Party Central Committee and the State Council’s strategic plans for peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality. It aims to provide strong support for China’s comprehensive green transformation of its economy and society by driving systemic changes at the industrial park level.

 

Definition and Evaluation Criteria for Zero-Carbon Parks

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According to the policy document, a zero-carbon park refers to a park in which carbon dioxide emissions generated by production and living activities within the park are reduced to zero through planning, design, technology, and management measures. A park that has achieved “near-zero” emissions and is poised to further meet the conditions for “net-zero” emissions. This concept reflects the scientific rigor and gradual approach China is taking on its carbon neutrality journey, emphasizing the park’s role as a model “zero-carbon cell.”

The core indicator for evaluating zero-carbon parks is: “Unit energy consumption carbon emissions” refers to the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per ton of standard coal consumed across all types of energy within the park. This indicator focuses on energy-use efficiency and guides the park, while ensuring both enterprise development and energy supply, to achieve a substantial reduction in carbon emissions by optimizing its energy mix.

In addition to the core indicators, the policy also sets five guiding indicators that measure the park’s green transformation achievements from multiple dimensions, including energy structure, circular economy, and resource conservation.

Proportion of clean energy consumption

Energy consumption per unit of product for enterprises in the park

Comprehensive utilization rate of industrial solid waste

Comprehensive Utilization Rate of Waste Heat, Waste Cold, and Waste Pressure

Industrial water reuse rate

 

Application Requirements and Implementation Guidelines

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To apply for the designation of a national-level zero-carbon park, the following basic conditions must be met:

Construction entity: Development zones at the provincial level and above may, depending on the situation, be extended to newly established provincial-level emerging industry parks or high-tech parks in recent years.

Construction scope: It can apply to the entire park as a whole, or to areas with clearly defined boundaries. Garden within a garden

Basic requirements: The park should have a certain foundation in the areas of energy consumption and carbon emission statistics, accounting, measurement, and monitoring.

Security requirements: The park should... No major safety, environmental accidents, or other incidents with adverse social impacts have occurred in the past three years.

Regarding the application process, the Development and Reform Commissions of various regions, in collaboration with the departments responsible for industry and information technology and energy, will comprehensively consider factors such as energy endowments, industrial foundations, reliable and secure power supply, and carbon reduction potential, and then recommend qualified and willing industrial parks to apply. The number of recommendations per region shall not exceed. Two copies must be submitted to the National Development and Reform Commission (Department of Environmental Resources) by August 22, 2025, including the list of recommended parks and their construction plans. 。

In terms of implementation, the policy requires that park developers conduct a comprehensive analysis of project feasibility, quantify economic, environmental, and social benefits, and prepare construction plans according to the outline provided in the application. The National Development and Reform Commission, together with relevant departments, will review the construction plans submitted by local authorities and determine the first batch of nationally designated zero-carbon parks. Upon completion of construction, the provincial-level development and reform authorities will organize self-assessments. Parks that pass the self-assessment will then undergo evaluation and acceptance conducted jointly by the National Development and Reform Commission and related departments and institutions.

Eight Key Tasks and Implementation Pathways

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The policy outlines eight key tasks for building zero-carbon parks, providing a clear roadmap for the green transformation of these parks.

Accelerating the transformation of the park’s energy consumption structure is the top priority. Policies will support the alignment and integration of park energy systems with nearby non-fossil energy generation resources, scientifically allocate flexible resources such as energy storage, and promote region-specific development of green power supply models—including direct links to green electricity and nearby grid connections for new renewable energy sources. In particular, participation in green certificate and green electricity trading will be strongly encouraged, and innovative approaches to hydrogen-electricity coupling and utilization will be explored. In terms of thermal energy utilization, parks will be encouraged to actively harness resources such as biomass energy, nuclear energy, solar thermal, geothermal energy, and industrial waste heat, thereby achieving clean and low-carbon heating systems and exploring alternatives to fossil fuels and raw materials through hydrogen and biomass energy.

Vigorously promote energy conservation and carbon reduction in industrial parks, focusing on a dual-drive approach driven by both management and technology. The policy requires industrial parks to establish management systems for energy consumption and carbon emissions, deeply promote energy efficiency and carbon performance diagnostics and assessments for enterprises, strengthen energy-saving inspections and routine supervision of key energy-consuming equipment, and phase out outdated production capacities, obsolete processes, and obsolete products and equipment. At the same time, the policy supports enterprises in benchmarking against leading and advanced standards, implementing energy-saving and carbon-reduction upgrades, and replacing energy-consuming equipment. It also encourages the development of ultra-efficient and zero-carbon factories. Taking the steel industry as an example, Nangang Group has conducted comprehensive energy-efficiency diagnostics across the entire process and applied advanced energy-saving technologies. In 2023, 150 energy-saving upgrades were completed, and in 2024, 53 more energy-saving upgrades were completed, helping to bring the energy consumption of each production process up to industry-leading levels.

Adjust and optimize the industrial structure of the park, emphasizing a green and low-carbon orientation. The policy encourages industrial parks to accelerate the optimization and adjustment of their industrial structures, strategically developing emerging industries that feature low energy consumption, low pollution, and high added value, and exploring the production of green products using green energy. The “green-for-green” model. At the same time, we will support the orderly relocation and clustering of high-energy-consuming industries to industrial parks that have sufficient resource availability, guaranteed energy supply, and adequate environmental capacity, thereby exploring deep decarbonization pathways. This task reflects strategic considerations for coordinated regional development and optimized industrial layout.

Strengthen requirements for resource conservation and intensive use within industrial parks, comprehensively plan the spatial layout of both parks and enterprises, enhance the intensive utilization of land resources, and promote cascaded energy utilization and water resource recycling. The policy also calls for strengthening the circular utilization network for park waste, promoting the resource recovery and reuse of industrial solid waste, surplus pressure, waste heat and cold, as well as waste gases, wastewater, and slags, thereby establishing a highly efficient resource circulation system.

Improving and upgrading the park's infrastructure involves systematic upgrades across multiple sectors. The policy calls for optimizing the planning and design of park infrastructure and systematically promoting the construction and upgrading of infrastructure systems including power, heating, gas, hydrogen energy, water supply and drainage, and pollution control. It also encourages newly built buildings to be designed and constructed in accordance with ultra-low-energy and nearly zero-energy building standards, improves green transportation infrastructure within parks, and accelerates the transition to low-carbon and carbon-neutral transportation vehicles.

Strengthen the application of advanced and suitable technologies, and emphasize collaborative innovation among industry, academia, and research. Policies support in-depth cooperation among industrial parks, enterprises, universities, and research institutions, strengthen the commercialization and application of scientific and technological achievements, and explore mechanisms for the deep integration of green and low-carbon technology R&D with industrial development. Demonstration application scenarios will be created around advanced, applicable technologies for low-carbon, zero-carbon, and negative-carbon solutions, thereby developing technology solutions with commercial value.

Enhancing the park’s energy and carbon management capabilities is key to digital transformation. The policy requires supporting the development of energy and carbon management platforms within industrial parks, covering major energy-consuming enterprises, and strengthening the parks’ and enterprises’ capabilities in monitoring, forecasting, and optimizing energy consumption loads. This platform will provide support for tasks such as carbon emission accounting, source-grid matching and adjustment, demand-side management of electricity, synergistic complementarity among multiple energy sources, and efficient circular utilization of resources. Taking Ankurei Electric Co., Ltd. as an example, the energy and carbon management platform it has developed adopts... The integrated “cloud-edge-device” architecture enables precise monitoring, optimization, and management of carbon emissions in industrial parks.

Supporting the park in strengthening reform and innovation aims to break through institutional and systemic barriers. Policies encourage various entities—including local governments, park-based enterprises, power generation companies, grid operators, and integrated energy service providers—to participate in the construction of zero-carbon parks and explore pathways and models for high-proportion renewable energy supply and consumption. Parks with suitable conditions are encouraged to participate in the electricity market through mechanisms such as virtual power plants (load aggregators), thereby enhancing resource allocation efficiency and improving power system stability. For example, the Dongfang Cable Park in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, has already completed China’s first fully green-electricity-supplied virtual power plant project. By integrating flexible resources such as photovoltaic systems and energy storage, this project can address the park’s needs. 80% of daily electricity demand.

Policy Guarantees and Implementation Mechanisms

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To support the development of zero-carbon parks, the policy provides three types of safeguard measures:

In terms of financial security, The National Development and Reform Commission will coordinate the use of existing funding channels to support the construction of zero-carbon parks, and encourage regions to provide financial support for such projects. Eligible projects will be supported through special local government bonds and other similar mechanisms. At the same time, policy banks are encouraged to offer medium- and long-term credit support to eligible projects, and qualified enterprises will be supported in issuing bonds to finance the construction of zero-carbon parks.

In terms of service guarantees, The policy supports the park in attracting external talent, technologies, and specialized institutions to provide services such as energy-saving and carbon-reduction upgrades for enterprises, carbon emission accounting and management, and product carbon footprint certification. This measure helps address the park’s lack of professional expertise in establishing systems for carbon emission statistics, accounting, reporting, and verification.

In terms of factor assurance, Policy innovation proposes exploring the implementation of multi-energy complementary and integrated supply projects for zero-carbon parks. “One-Window” approval system. Strengthen the guarantee of energy-use factors, innovate energy-saving review and carbon-emission assessment models within zero-carbon parks, and explore implementing regional approvals or project filings. Enhance the assurance of land and sea use for newly established parks, new-energy power sources, and power supply facilities, thereby providing spatial support for the construction of zero-carbon parks.

In terms of implementation mechanisms, the policy clearly specifies... The four key steps are: "strengthen overall coordination, organize park applications, carry out construction in a solid manner, and enhance evaluation and summarization." At the national level, the National Development and Reform Commission will take the lead in promoting the construction of zero-carbon parks; the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will provide guidance on low-carbon transformation of industrial parks; and the National Energy Administration will guide the development of a green energy supply system. At the local level, it is necessary to combine actual conditions, organize and recommend parks that meet the criteria, and provide guidance on preparing their construction plans. The first batch of nationally designated zero-carbon parks will be finalized after review, and upon completion of construction, an evaluation and acceptance process must be conducted.

 

The Strategic Significance and Prospects of Zero-Carbon Park Development

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The construction of zero-carbon parks carries five major strategic significances: First, it accelerates the green transition of energy by optimizing the energy structure and increasing the share of non-fossil energy consumption; second, it guides industries toward deep decarbonization and explores the use of green energy to produce green products. The “green-for-green” model; third, promote coordinated regional development and guide energy-intensive industries to relocate and cluster in industrial parks where resources are sustainable and energy supplies are secure; fourth, adapt to green trade rules, helping enterprises reduce their product carbon footprints and enhance their green competitiveness; fifth, create zero-carbon demonstration models to accumulate experience and explore pathways for building a “zero-carbon society.”

From the perspective of development prospects, the construction of zero-carbon parks will exhibit the following trends:

First, the application and construction will be advanced in stages. According to policy requirements, the National Development and Reform Commission will proceed as follows: The overall arrangement of “planning a batch, constructing a batch, and operating a batch” has been put in place, and the first list of national-level zero-carbon parks has been finalized. Each region may, based on its specific circumstances, launch the construction of provincial-level zero-carbon parks, thus fostering a multi-tiered and multi-gradient development pattern for zero-carbon parks.

Second, the application of technology will accelerate its implementation. With supportive policies and technological maturity, technologies such as direct green power supply, virtual power plants, and energy-carbon management platforms will see wider adoption in industrial parks. For example, the virtual power plant project providing entirely green electricity at the Dongfang Cable Industrial Park in Ningbo, Zhejiang, has already been successfully operational, offering valuable lessons for other industrial parks to follow.

Third, institutional innovation will be further advanced. Innovative measures such as the “single-window” approval system, regional energy-saving reviews, and carbon emission assessment models will continue to be refined and improved in practice, providing more efficient institutional support for the construction of zero-carbon parks.

Finally, international cooperation will become increasingly close. As China deepens its efforts to build zero-carbon parks, it will strengthen international collaboration with organizations such as the European Union in areas like carbon footprint management and green electricity certification, thereby enhancing China’s voice in shaping global green trade rules.

Conclusion and Recommendations

 

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The construction of zero-carbon parks is a crucial lever for China to achieve its carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, as well as a key measure for promoting a comprehensive green transformation of the economy and society. Local governments, park management agencies, and enterprises should fully recognize the strategic significance of building zero-carbon parks, actively seize policy opportunities, and scientifically plan and coordinate the green and low-carbon transformation of their parks.

The specific recommendations are as follows:

Local governments should strengthen overall coordination, establish cross-departmental collaboration mechanisms, integrate resources, and build synergies to provide comprehensive support—covering policies, funding, and talent—for the development of zero-carbon parks.

The park management authority should, based on its own resource endowments and industrial characteristics, conduct scientific feasibility studies, in-depth analyses, and comprehensive assessments to map out the pathways and approaches for building zero-carbon parks, ensuring that technological solutions are operational, engineering projects can be implemented, and innovative initiatives can be put into practice.

Enterprises should actively participate in the construction of zero-carbon parks, benchmark against leading and advanced standards, implement energy-saving and carbon-reduction upgrades as well as modernize energy-consuming equipment, build ultra-efficient and zero-carbon factories, and achieve green, low-carbon, and high-quality development.

The construction of zero-carbon parks is a systematic undertaking that requires coordinated efforts and joint action from multiple stakeholders. Through policy guidance, market-driven initiatives, technological innovation, and management upgrades, China’s zero-carbon park development will achieve substantial progress, providing strong and solid support for realizing the goals of peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality.