As a resource- and energy-intensive sector, the building materials industry accounts for a significant share of industrial carbon emissions. Its green and low-carbon transformation is not only essential for its own sustainable development but also crucial for achieving China's dual carbon goals.
In recent years, facing complex internal and external challenges, the sector has implemented robust measures to unlock its green and low-carbon development potential. Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in collaboration with the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation, released the 2025 list of energy efficiency “leaders” across key industries. Notably, four enterprises from the cement clinker industry—a vital segment of the building materials sector—were selected.
How can a balance be struck between stable growth and carbon reduction? “Zero carbon” is the core solution to this contradiction, while industrial “micro-circulation” has become the key pathway to achieving zero-carbon goals. Sub-sectors such as cement, ceramics, and glass fiber are exploring new models like zero-carbon factories and fossil-fuel-free plants, with green and low-carbon technologies and equipment emerging as new focal points of industry competition.
Significant Emissions Reduction Achievements
“Advancing green and low-carbon transformation is both an inevitable requirement and a powerful driver for high-quality development in the building materials industry,” “ Yan Xiaofeng, Party Secretary and President of the China Building Materials Federation, explained that in recent years, the green transformation of the building materials industry has advanced in depth. The release of the ”Building Materials Industry Embarking on a New Journey Toward Carbon Neutrality—China Building Materials Industry Carbon Emissions Report (2025)" announced that China's building materials sector has achieved its carbon peak on schedule and is now comprehensively moving toward carbon neutrality. It has established a clear technical implementation path, attracting widespread attention both domestically and internationally.
The building materials sector has consistently led industrial efforts toward achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. Data indicates that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, carbon dioxide emissions in the industry have continuously declined. Compared to 2020 levels, emissions are projected to decrease by 24.9% by 2025, energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of industrial added value will drop by 17.4%, and carbon dioxide emissions per 10,000 yuan of industrial added value will fall by 25.3%. Green production has yielded significant results, with breakthroughs in high-proportion alternative fuel technology for cement kilns achieving over 60% fuel substitution rates. The cement, ceramics, and glass fiber industries have successively established the world's first production lines featuring zero external electricity purchases, zero-carbon combustion of ammonia and hydrogen, and zero carbon emissions.
Nationwide green building materials outreach campaigns and product replacement initiatives continue, with carbon and environmental labeling platforms operating steadily. Green consumption potential is steadily unlocked, accelerating the shift from a production-oriented to a demand-driven development model.
Driven by the “challenge-based” mechanism for major technological breakthroughs in the building materials sector, the industry innovatively proposed the “Six Zeros” factory concept: zero purchased electricity, zero fossil energy, zero primary resources, zero carbon emissions, zero waste discharge, and zero employees. Significant achievements have been made in this regard. This concept transcends mere metric accumulation, representing the ultimate vision for industrial “micro-circulation.” By achieving energy self-sufficiency, resource recycling, and zero waste, it enables closed-loop sustainability across the entire production process, charting a clear course for industry transformation.
Jining Conch Cement established the world's first factory with zero external electricity purchases and fully green power. Huaxin Chongqing Diwei Cement increased coal replacement rates in its production lines to over 65%. North New Building Materials developed technology enabling 100% biomass fuel substitution for coal in gypsum board production. Sinoma International built a cement clinker production line using 100% calcareous limestone raw materials. Mona Lisa Ceramics achieved zero wastewater and waste residue discharge in its production lines. Jinyu Jidong Cement achieved unmanned quality closed-loop control and unmanned on-site inspections on its 10,000-ton line in Tongchuan. Multiple cement enterprises have successively built industrial demonstration lines for CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage) with annual capture capacities ranging from 100,000 to 200,000 tons of carbon dioxide...
While continuously optimizing production processes, the building materials industry has extended green and low-carbon concepts into the consumer sphere. The Green Building Materials to Rural Areas initiative has expanded from pilot cities in over 20 regions, fostering a new trend in green building material consumption and adding a green foundation to beautiful rural construction.
The construction of “quality housing” relies on high-quality green building materials. Aligned with standards for safe, comfortable, green, and smart “quality housing,” the building materials industry has defined “quality materials” characterized by health, safety, environmental friendliness, and superior quality. It actively advances initiatives matching quality materials with quality housing, laying a foundation for high-quality urban development and empowering people's better lives.
Technological Innovation Support
Within the building materials industry's carbon emissions profile, the cement sector accounts for approximately 80% of total emissions. Achieving ultra-low emissions in this industry has become the cornerstone of the sector's green transformation. In January 2024, multiple government departments jointly issued the “Opinions on Promoting Ultra-Low Emissions in the Cement Industry,” accelerating comprehensive ultra-low emission upgrades across all processes and stages of cement production. In March 2025, the cement industry was formally incorporated into the national carbon emissions trading market.
As heavy trucks loaded with solid waste slowly entered the premises, the Comprehensive Utilization Center for High-Proportion Alternative Fuels at Chongqing Huaxin Diwei Cement Co., Ltd. in Luohuang Town, Jiangjin District, Chongqing, commenced operations. The solid waste—including scrap fabric strips and dismantled automotive parts—was pretreated, crushed into small pieces, and precisely fed into kilns for combustion. This process replaces traditional coal in cement clinker production, transforming waste into valuable resources. “Currently, our fossil fuel substitution rate exceeds 65%,” stated Zhou Zhipeng, Executive General Manager of Chongqing Huaxin Diwei Cement Co., Ltd. Calculations show that after developing and applying this high-proportion fuel substitution technology, the company saves 26,600 tons of standard coal annually, reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 12,300 tons, and generates comprehensive economic benefits of 12 million yuan, achieving a win-win outcome for ecological and economic gains.
In 2022, Chongqing Huaxin Diwei initiated an energy-saving and carbon-reduction upgrade project, undertaking research, development, application, and validation of high-proportion fuel substitution technology for cement kilns. Green transformation requires breakthroughs at the front end and closed-loop management at the back end. “The high chlorine content in substitute fuels poses risks of preheater scaling and clogging, as well as excessive chloride ions in clinker,” " Wang Zhenxiang, Head of the Technical Department at Chongqing Huaxin Diwei Cement Co., Ltd., explained. The company specifically applied its independently developed bypass venting system to effectively reduce chloride ion accumulation in the kiln system, ensuring qualified clinker quality. Simultaneously, a water-washing salt extraction process was adopted to recover potassium chloride as a byproduct, ultimately completing the closed-loop utilization of alternative fuels and enhancing the depth and sustainability of green development. Chongqing Huaxin Diwei's continuous technological upgrades have reduced comprehensive energy consumption per ton of clinker to 59.90 kg standard coal equivalent, securing its place on the 2025 Energy Efficiency “Leader” List for the cement clinker sector.
Technological innovation for emissions reduction in the building materials sector is not achieved overnight. Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the industry has established 11 new national key laboratories—including those for major infrastructure engineering materials and advanced glass materials—alongside 11 industry-specific innovation platforms such as the Future Ceramic Technology Key Laboratory and the Engineering Technology Center for Underground Space Inspection and Intelligent Monitoring. At the 2025 Building Materials Industry Conference, a series of world-first and globally leading technologies and products made their official debut. These included the ceramic industry's ammonia-hydrogen zero-carbon combustion technology demonstration line, 8.6-generation OLED glass substrates, cement full-oxygen combustion coupled with carbon capture technology, the cement industry's zero-external-power-purchase demonstration plant, and the 10,000-ton cement zero-worker demonstration plant. As production processes become increasingly digitalized, networked, and intelligent, traditional building materials enterprises are transforming from followers to leaders.
Full Industry Chain Collaboration
According to the long-term planning goals for the building materials industry, by 2035, a green, low-carbon, and circular economic system will be fundamentally established. Green production and lifestyles will be widely adopted, with significant progress in synergistic pollution reduction and carbon emission reduction. Resource utilization efficiency will reach internationally advanced levels, propelling the industry onto a comprehensive green and low-carbon trajectory as carbon emissions begin shifting toward carbon neutrality.
Achieving this vision requires support from specific policy tools. The carbon emissions trading market stands as a pivotal mechanism for driving the industry's comprehensive green transformation and realizing carbon neutrality.
“The carbon market is a crucial policy tool that leverages market mechanisms to actively address climate change and accelerate the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. Moving forward, the building materials industry will engage more proactively in the national carbon market,” stated Yan Xiaofeng.
Facing the new landscape, he believes the building materials sector will seize this opportunity to proactively deploy strategies. By leveraging the incentive-constraint mechanism of the national carbon market—where “emissions incur costs and reductions yield benefits”—the industry will vigorously advance energy conservation, carbon reduction, raw material substitution technologies, and management optimization. This will drive the phasing out of inefficient capacity, unleash advanced production capabilities, achieve carbon allowance surpluses, and ultimately generate economic returns in the national carbon emissions trading market.
“To effectively connect with and swiftly integrate into the national carbon market, Huaxin is fully prepared,” stated Li Yeqing, President of Huaxin Building Materials Group Co., Ltd. The company will strengthen its carbon asset management foundation, continuously explore and apply advanced carbon reduction technologies, vigorously promote cement kiln co-processing technologies, gradually replace traditional fuels, continuously improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon emission intensity, and transform carbon reduction achievements into market competitiveness.
From grand blueprints in top-level design to technological innovations on the production frontlines, from optimizing and upgrading product structures to fostering collaborative progress across the industrial chain, the building materials industry is embarking on a broad and profound green transformation with unprecedented intensity and unwavering determination. Looking ahead, the industry will continue to optimize its industrial structure, enhance resource and energy utilization efficiency, actively cultivate emerging green and low-carbon industries, and accelerate the construction of a modern building materials industrial system.
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