Energy conservation and environmental protection industry is a strategic emerging industry encouraged by China. The development of energy conservation and environmental protection industry is an important starting point for promoting supply side structural reform, cultivating new green momentum and enhancing green competitiveness. In the first year of the 14th five year plan, the energy conservation and environmental protection industry accelerated its development driven by major policies such as carbon peak and carbon neutralization, and some new situations and trends also emerged. It is suggested to take the transformation of energy conservation and carbon reduction in traditional industries as an opportunity to further improve supporting policies, enhance innovation capacity, create an “ecosystem” for the healthy development of industries, promote the industrialization and application of new technology and equipment, and add more “green power” to the high-quality economic development.

The development of energy conservation and environmental protection industry is one of the important contents of promoting the construction of ecological civilization, continuously improving the ecological environment, and realizing carbon peak and carbon neutrality. It is an important means to reduce the cost of energy consumption of enterprises and improve the quality and efficiency of economic development. At this stage, it is also an important way to expand effective investment, stimulate the industrial economy, and stabilize employment channels. During the “13th five year plan” period, China’s energy conservation and environmental protection industry has made great progress and increasingly become a new growth point of the national economy, which has greatly promoted the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. Entering the “14th five year plan” period, the world’s unprecedented major changes in a century, coupled with the COVID-19, have made China’s economic development face many challenges. The recovery of the world economy is weak, the tide of anti globalization is rising, and developed countries generally set up green trade barriers and implement trade protection. China urgently needs to develop energy-saving and environmental protection industries to realize the green transformation of the economic system, break down green barriers, and enhance the comprehensive competitiveness of our economy.

1、 Energy conservation and environmental protection industry has increasingly become a new green driving force for high-quality economic development

（1） The industrial scale continues to expand, and the overall development trend of the industry is good

In 2021, the central government made the strategic deployment of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, and the energy conservation and environmental protection industry ushered in new development opportunities. According to the data released by the State Administration of market supervision, the number of energy-saving and environmental protection enterprises increased by 23% throughout the year, promoting the rapid development of the “four new economies”. In terms of energy-saving service industry, by the end of 2021, the number of enterprises engaged in energy-saving service business nationwide had reached 8725, with 841000 employees; The total output value of energy-saving service industry reached 606.9 billion yuan, an increase of 2.6% year-on-year; In 2021, the investment in contract energy management projects increased by 134.8 billion yuan, forming an annual energy-saving capacity of 43.69 million tons of standard coal, equivalent to 107.48 million tons of carbon dioxide emission reduction. In 2021, the investment in energy conservation and energy efficiency improvement projects implemented under the contract energy management mode was 138.42 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate of 11.1%. In the ecological and environmental protection industry, there are more than 3million employees, an increase of nearly 2.5 times over 2011; The total output value of ecological and environmental protection services exceeded 1.5 trillion yuan, an increase of about 11.3% over 2020.

（2） The number of new orders increased overall, and the investment in energy conservation and environmental protection continued to increase

The analysis report of China’s environmental protection industry shows that the number of new orders and investment amount of energy conservation and environmental protection services have increased on the whole, showing a trend of sustainable development. In 2021, the total number of projects in the six subdivisions of the ecological and environmental protection industry, including atmosphere, water, soil, solid waste, environmental monitoring and noise, reached more than 20000, with a total investment of more than 1.1 trillion yuan. Among them, the number of successful projects and investment in the field of environmental sanitation and food waste have achieved double growth, and the number of successful projects in waste incineration and the investment in soil remediation have achieved two consecutive years of growth. The report predicts that by 2025, the operating revenue of the ecological and environmental protection industry is expected to exceed 3trillion yuan.

（3） The business condition of the enterprise is generally good, and the overall profit of the industry is basically stable

According to the questionnaire survey conducted by the China Environmental Protection Industry Association on the six sub sectors of ecological and environmental protection and more than 680 member enterprises, the proportion of enterprises with revenue growth in the ecological and environmental protection industry is more than 40%, and 76.8% of enterprises’ revenue growth or flat year-on-year. In terms of profits, there is a “K” differentiation trend. Enterprises with year-on-year growth, balance and decline account for about one third respectively. The profits of large-scale enterprises are generally better than small, medium-sized and micro enterprises, and the revenue growth and profits in the field of comprehensive utilization of solid waste are better than those in other sub fields.

（4） The state-owned enterprises and private enterprises are developing in a coordinated manner, and the industrial chain and “ecosystem” show a healthy and sustainable development trend

In recent years, the energy conservation and environmental protection industry has accelerated the “reshuffle”. State owned enterprises, especially central enterprises, have actively fulfilled their social responsibilities and entered the energy conservation and environmental protection industry through mixed ownership reforms such as investment and equity participation, mergers and acquisitions, and a number of central enterprise subsidiaries and provincial environmental protection groups have become industry leaders. In addition, private enterprises give full play to the characteristics of sensitive market, flexible mechanism and rapid response, and occupy a place in some professional segments. There are not only competition between state-owned enterprises and private enterprises, but also win-win cooperation, “state-owned enterprise contracting, private enterprise subcontracting”, “private enterprise development, central enterprise operation” and other cooperation modes continue to emerge, promoting the healthy development of energy conservation and environmental protection industry chain and “ecosystem”.

（5） The innovation ability of enterprises has been continuously enhanced, and the scientific and technological innovation system has become more sound

State owned enterprises are the backbone leading the innovation and development of the industry because of their strong financial strength and scientific and technological research and development capabilities. At the same time, a number of specialized small and medium-sized enterprises and technology-based private energy-saving and environmental protection enterprises specializing in the service of subdivisions have become new forces to promote the innovation and development of the industry. Innovation indicators such as R & D expenditure, proportion of R & D personnel and patent authorization of enterprises have increased steadily on the whole. In 2021, there were 19 new listed companies in the national ecological and environmental protection industry, most of which were small and medium-sized enterprises with distinctive technologies. The total number of A-share listed environmental protection companies was nearly 180, and 55 enterprises were selected into the third batch of national specialized special new “little giants”. There are nearly 200 listed companies related to energy conservation in the field of energy conservation services.

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