Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone receives the "Zero Carbon KPI" — how to build a zero-carbon park?

Source: 21st Century Business Herald Author: Lu Taoran, Li Deshang Yu

During the 14th Five-Year Plan, China aims to establish about 100 national zero-carbon parks. As one of the first selected, Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone (Beijing ETDZ) is focusing on building a zero-carbon park centered on new energy and intelligent connected vehicle industries. However, a significant gap in a key indicator presents a major challenge.

“After deducting green electricity contributions, the unit energy consumption carbon emission indicator in Beijing ETDZ reaches 1.6 tons of CO2 per ton of standard coal, far above the 0.2 tons of CO2 per ton of standard coal required by the National Development and Reform Commission,” said a relevant person from the Economic Development Bureau of Beijing ETDZ at the 2026 Zero Carbon Future Conference. This is the biggest difficulty in the coming years, and “where to get green electricity” is the current pressing issue.

In response, the official revealed that Beijing ETDZ is planning to develop an integrated AI-powered energy and carbon smart management platform, aiming to coordinate virtual power plants, energy storage facilities, green electricity trading, and carbon emission factors. In the future, it will also incorporate finance, project databases, and safety supervision functions to achieve refined and intelligent management of energy and carbon flows.

From 1.6 to 0.2: the carbon reduction challenge

“Calculations show that even within the scope of this application in 2024, after deducting green electricity contributions, the unit energy consumption carbon emission indicator will still be as high as 1.6,” the official explained. The biggest difficulty in building a zero-carbon park in Beijing ETDZ is the heavy pressure to reduce carbon emissions.

According to the core indicator requirements for national zero-carbon parks set by the National Development and Reform Commission, the unit energy consumption carbon emission must be below 0.2 tons of CO2 per ton of standard coal. The official analyzed that to reduce from 1.6 to 0.2, about 1.4 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions need to be absorbed within three years, which is a formidable task.

Based on current energy consumption and carbon emission trends in the park, the official noted that in 2024, the total energy consumption in the core area will reach 3.03 million tons of standard coal, a 4.75% increase year-on-year. “This is mainly due to the production of Xiaomi automobiles, which uses some natural gas and spraying processes, leading to increased natural gas and electricity consumption.”

Regarding energy intensity, the official stated that in 2024, the core area’s energy consumption per ten thousand yuan of GDP will be 0.1026 tons of standard coal. Over the past decade, Beijing ETDZ has maintained an average annual energy consumption growth of 5%, mainly driven by enterprise expansion and the resulting rigid energy demand. “In the 2025 assessment by the Ministry of Commerce, Beijing ETDZ ranks among the top in energy consumption intensity among all development zones nationwide, with relatively high energy efficiency.”

In terms of total carbon emissions and energy structure, Beijing ETDZ reduced its total carbon emissions by 24.61% during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, with a foundation of 75% electricity and 25% natural gas and thermal energy.

The official said that unlike the “full-area zero-carbon” blueprint, Beijing ETDZ has designated specific core areas for the national zero-carbon park application. After intensive calculations, the zone selected the energy-intensive and relatively optimized energy structure (75% electricity consumption) of the new energy and intelligent connected vehicle industry cluster as the breakthrough point.

The application area includes companies like Beijing Benz, Xiaomi Auto, CATL, Goldwind, and Schneider Electric. The official highlighted that Beijing Benz has one of the city’s largest distributed photovoltaic projects, Xiaomi Auto has a flagship BIPV project, CATL has operated with green electricity since commissioning, and Goldwind has established the country’s first zero-carbon smart park model. These existing practices provide valuable technological and management foundations for the zero-carbon park.

Where does green electricity come from? The biggest challenge

“If no measures are taken, the carbon emissions per unit energy consumption in the application park by 2028 will reach 1.5 million tons. To meet the national requirement of 0.2, our emissions must be reduced to 100,000 tons,” the official said. This means reducing 1.4 million tons of carbon emissions within three years, either through offsets or other means.

To achieve 0.2, the official analyzed four major challenges ahead.

First, the contradiction between renewable energy resource endowment and supply stability is the biggest current pressure, namely “where does green electricity come from.”

Local renewable energy generation in Beijing ETDZ can only meet less than 5% of the power demand, while the zero-carbon park requires at least 50% direct green electricity connection. Finding sources for direct green electricity becomes critical. The zone considers importing green electricity from Inner Mongolia, Hebei, and other regions, but faces long transportation distances and implementation difficulties, as well as the need to clarify leading entities and solve technical issues related to direct connection and substation stability.

“To address this, we have planned related projects. For example, Beijing ETDZ’s agrivoltaic projects leverage local agriculture and fruit resources to build green power direct connection bases; Majuqiao Logistics Park’s large rooftop can generate surplus green electricity that cannot be fully consumed locally, serving as an important source for direct connection; Nangong biomass waste power plant is also a key green power link; and Goldwind’s 12 wind turbine projects will be vital for the park’s green power supply,” the official explained. Long-term plans include cooperation with Jinneng International to develop a green power transmission project into Beijing, expected to deliver 10 billion kWh of green electricity annually by 2028, effectively meeting the power needs of other enterprises outside the application scope.

Additionally, the zone is exploring new energy “fly zones” and collaborating with Pinggu, Miyun, Langfang, and other areas to build green power supply bases. They also propose establishing a carbon-neutral cooperation zone, leveraging industrial advantages to explore industry-based carbon sink exchange models, achieving green development and economic growth in tandem.

The high cost of replacing fossil fuels is another challenge. “In 2026, the park’s electricity consumption is expected to reach 2.056 billion kWh, with future growth anticipated, such as Xiaomi Auto and CATL expanding production, which could double electricity use to 4.5 billion kWh by 2028.”

Natural gas consumption in the park, currently at 27.72%, needs to be reduced to 10.67% by 2028. However, the cost of building and operating electric boilers is 3-4 times that of gas boilers. With relatively low natural gas prices in Beijing, enterprises lack motivation for retrofit. “Solutions include exploring multi-energy complementary systems, such as utilizing waste heat from Nangong waste-to-energy plant, combined with data centers and wastewater treatment plants, to provide alternative heat sources for companies like Beijing Benz.”

Notably, Xiaomi Auto, which has been in operation for only a year, faces difficulty replacing gas boilers in the short term. “We are considering CCUS (carbon capture, utilization, and storage) technology to address its carbon emissions, and are also exploring market-based utilization scenarios for captured CO2,” the official said. For example, applications in Coca-Cola production and data center cooling. Only by finding market-based applications can CCUS technology be sustainable.

Energy storage projects also face obstacles. “Due to safety incidents, approval for large-scale energy storage projects in Beijing has nearly stalled, but energy storage is key to balancing green power fluctuations and ensuring grid stability,” the official noted. Beijing ETDZ hopes to leverage the zero-carbon park application to push policy breakthroughs and pilot projects, while exploring mechanisms for enterprise surplus electricity recovery.

It’s worth noting that large-scale commercialization of CCUS, green hydrogen, and emerging photovoltaic technologies like perovskite still face cost and reliability challenges. The official said that the zone is promoting related labs and demonstration projects, and exploring market scenarios for CO2 captured via CCUS, such as food processing and data center cooling, to seek sustainable business models.

Three-step roadmap from 2026 to 2028

Regarding economic analysis and guarantees, the official said that calculations show that under current policies, the static payback period for zero-carbon park projects is 9.8 years, slightly longer than enterprises’ expectations. “In the future, we hope the national and Beijing governments will introduce relevant incentive policies, and the ETDZ will also roll out supporting measures to shorten the payback period and align with enterprise investment expectations.”

“Currently, aside from the core indicator of unit energy consumption carbon emissions, all other guiding indicators in Beijing ETDZ meet the requirements for applying for a national zero-carbon park,” the official added. Facing the complex challenges, the zone has formulated a clear three-year implementation plan.

The official explained that 2026 will be a year for energy-saving preparations and pilot breakthroughs. The main focus is to correct misconceptions that “buying carbon offsets equals zero carbon,” prioritizing energy-saving renovations and high-efficiency equipment upgrades, while simultaneously advancing CCUS and energy storage pilot projects.

2027 will be positioned as the year for green power breakthroughs and platform operation. The goal is to achieve substantial progress in green power direct connection, launch the integrated AI-powered energy and carbon smart management platform, and reduce the unit energy consumption carbon emission from 1.6 to 0.5.

2028 will be the year for integrated sprint and demonstration promotion. The aim is to deeply integrate energy-saving and carbon reduction with industrial development, achieve the core targets, and replicate successful models to enterprises and regions with conditions. Currently, eight major fields and 25 zero-carbon park projects are planned, with a total investment of nearly 2.5 billion yuan, and ongoing adjustments and improvements.

Looking ahead at the feasibility of reaching zero-carbon goals, the official said that Beijing ETDZ will focus on three main directions: green power direct connection, energy storage, and market-based trading. First, increase renewable energy use by expanding local PV installations, promoting green power direct connection projects, and conducting cross-region green power trading. Second, deploy energy storage facilities, encouraging enterprises to build small-scale storage and establishing large-scale storage in demonstration zones to ensure stability and safety. Third, improve energy efficiency, which is often overlooked in current carbon reduction efforts, by promoting waste heat utilization and leveraging resources from data centers, waste-to-energy plants, and wastewater treatment facilities to replace fossil fuel boilers.

Of particular importance is their platform-based and systematic approach. “Beijing ETDZ is planning to build an integrated AI-powered energy and carbon smart management platform, aiming to coordinate virtual power plants, energy storage, green electricity trading, and carbon emission factors, with future functions including finance, project databases, and safety supervision, to achieve precise and intelligent management of energy and carbon flows,” the official emphasized.

It’s also noteworthy that during the shift from “energy consumption dual control” to “carbon emission dual control,” some enterprises have found that “energy-saving costs are higher than carbon reduction costs,” leading them to prefer directly purchasing green electricity to achieve apparent carbon neutrality, while energy efficiency improvements stagnate. This may run counter to the original intention of green transformation. The official suggested that the national zero-carbon park indicator system should incorporate considerations of economic viability and output contribution, and called for establishing a unified national platform for park energy and carbon data comparison, enabling transparent benchmarking and real value creation for each ton of carbon reduced.