ENVRIONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY: CREATING A BEAUTIFUL CHINA
We believe that we can develop the economy while also protecting the environment. For CITIC, environmental protection is not only about how we fulfil our corporate social responsibilities but the way we pursue sustainable development. In 2020, we continued to follow best practices in green management and also encouraged our financial subsidiaries to increase their investments in green finance and explore new green financial derivatives trading products and services. By upgrading their technology and production processes, our industrial subsidiaries have been able to optimise their operations and improve energy efficiency. This is in accordance with the 14th Five-Year Plan of the national government, which sets out the peak period for China’s carbon emissions while also promoting high-quality economic development and environmental quality.
Performance
Environmental Business Platform
Water Management
CITIC Environmental Technology invests, constructs and operates water projects and develops advanced membrane materials. The company has more than 80 water treatment projects nationwide, with a daily wastewater treatment capacity of more than 6 million tonnes.
In addition to carrying out upgrading and modification works, it optimises energy consumption and sludge generation in the water treatment process for all its treatment plants.
Energy Saving
CITIC Energy Conservation Technology has invested in retrofit projects using intelligent combustion control systems for Daye Special Steel and Xingcheng Special Steel. A total of 68.07 million cubic metres in gas consumption was saved through these two projects.
Solid Waste Management
Chongqing Sanfeng Environment is currently investing in 45 domestic waste incineration power generation BOT projects. In 2020, the facility was put into operation with a capacity of about 8 million tonnes of domestic waste. A total 2.5 billion KwH of electricity has been generated by this company through domestic waste incineration.
Green management
CITIC fully complies with all environmental laws and regulations in the countries and regions where we operate. We are also continually improving our environmental management system and have established a long-term green development mechanism for enhancing our environmental performance. In addition, we provide green finance for the development of low-carbon environmental industries and raise awareness of the importance of environmental protection among our stakeholders.
Improvements to our environmental management system
In Australia, controlling greenhouse gas emissions below government-imposed benchmarks is our key environmental compliance target. In 2020, CITIC Sino Iron submitted an application to the government to adjust its project’s annual greenhouse gas emissions baseline in accordance with the country’s recently revised environmental regulations, which will improve its climate change risk management in 2021. The Company also continued to monitor work on coastal stability, coral health, desalination plant outfalls, wildlife and waste disposal. The results showed that the project did not cause any significant impact on the environment.
At the CITIC Resources Yuedong East Oilfield project, the classification and storage of domestic waste and oil- based hazardous waste on the company’s offshore production platforms is strictly regulated. The company also strives to reduce the quantity of oil-based hazardous waste it generates through marking, tagging and tracking the bins on each platform during daily production.
Green Finance
CITIC Bank requires that the growth rate of loans in its Green Credit Statistical System must be higher than the growth rate of general bank-wide loans. Loans will not be granted to customers who do not meet the requirements under this green loan system. As of the end of 2020, the balance of green credit loans was RMB65.148 billion, an increase of 3.51%.
CITIC Securities
CITIC Securities supports projects related to green industries and assisted financial and non-financial enterprises with their green equity financing projects. Through green equity financing, environmental technology and alternative energy enterprises have accumulatively acquired RMB22.951billion for green industries with approval from regulators and in line with relevant regulations.
CITIC Trust
CITIC Trust, in collaboration with Zhejiang Anji State Control Group, launched the CITIC Trust-Xingyue No. 22 Zhejiang Huzhou Anji County State Control Collective Fund Trust Scheme in 2020. The aim of this scheme is to assist the Anji County Government and local companies while also protecting the environment. By promoting the production of high-end equipment, information technology and other industrial projects, the company is making a strong contribution to the economy of Anji County.
Promoting environmental protection
CITIC Environmental Technology, a subsidiary of CITIC Environment, has been organising environmental science and technology activities on World Environment Day for many years. In 2020, a total of 33 subsidiaries of CITIC Environmental Technology organised activities designed to promote environmental protection.
Liaoyang Xinhuan Water Company participated in the National Green Ride which advocates a green and healthy lifestyle
Green management
Green management principles are integrated into the production processes and operations of our companies. This means enforcing strict pollution prevention and control measures and developing environmental protection technology that helps reduce emissions, pollution and waste. They also guide us in making more efficient use of the energy and resources we consume on our journey towards a low-carbon future.
Reducing waste emissions
We attach great importance to balanced development through our advocacy of clean production, the circular economy, energy conservation and emissions reduction. Our technology and management systems, which are part of our green development model, have helped us continuously reduce waste gas emissions, wastewater and solid waste.
|
Initiatives |
Achievements |
|
|---|---|---|
|
CITIC Resources |
To reduce the amount of oil sludge produced at the terminal station, CITIC Resources Yuedong Oilfield reduced the amount of water purifying agent from 200 kg per day to 100 kg without compromising sewage water quality standards. |
Based on a chemical sludge coefficient of 5.0, oil sludge generated is reduced by 0.5 tonnes per day and about 183 tonnes per annum. |
|
CITIC Pacific Special Steel |
Xingcheng Special Steel completed 360m2 of sintering and 400m2 of sintering when undertaking desulfurization and denitrification. |
Current emissions of pollutants: particulates ≤ 10mg/m3, SO2 ≤ 35mg/ m3, NOx ≤ 50mg/m3. |
|
Qingdao Special Steel carried out coke oven flue gas desulfurization and denitrification projects, and upgraded its coke ovens to be smoke free. |
Improved smoke and dust spills in coke ovens and reduced sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions. |
|
|
Daye Special Steel installed a new 265 m2 sintering head denitrification system and 220 m2 sintering desulfurization and denitrification system, and also completed its gas boiler desulfurization and denitrification renovation projects. |
All emissions were in compliance with relevant national standards, with groundwater and soil pollution under control. |
CASE STUDIES
Proprietary technology removes nitrogen from sludge at Xinji wastewater treatment plant
The CITIC Envirotech Xinji Wastewater Treatment Plant collects and treats domestic and industrial wastewater discharged from Xinji City. With a design capacity of 100,000 tonnes per day, the plant uses CITIC Envirotech’s world leading MBR membrane process treatment technology to meet the national Grade A standard for effluents.
As water coming into the plant did not meet the carbon source requirement for denitrification (a process that removes bacteria from sludge), an additional carbon source had to be found. CITIC Envirotech, together with its technical partner, used the waste in the wastewater plant to produce the carbon required for denitrification. This not only reduced the production of biological sludge in the wastewater but also the demand for additional carbon for denitrification.
Since the implementation of the Sludge to Carbon project in September 2020, the sludge concentration in the surrounding biochemical ponds decreased from about 13,000mg/L to about 9,500mg/L by the end of 2020, resulting in a significant reduction in water cost per tonne from RMB0.358 to 0.265 compared from 9-12 month of 2019, with a total saving of RMB738,100.
Saving energy and resources
We are committed to reducing the amount of resources and energy we consume by strengthening our energy management system, upgrading our production equipment, optimising production capacity and introducing innovative new production technologies.
|
Initiatives |
Achievements |
|
|---|---|---|
|
CITIC Mining International |
In keeping with the Western Australian Government’s Making a Difference by Recycling Containers initiative, we launched the Beverage Container Recycling Activity at the mining site. Plastic water bottles, aluminium cans, glass beer bottles, milk cartons and other beverage containers were all recycled. |
By recycling waste, we are able to reduce energy consumption and use natural resources more efficiently, while also driving the development of a new recycling industry at the project site. |
|
CITIC Resources |
The six 23-tonne boilers at the Karazhanbas field incorporate a new energy-saving feature, with a heat exchanger installed at the flue gas outlet. Raw water is heated to 200 degrees Celsius at the boiler inlet with flue gas, which is then reduced to 80 degrees Celsius after heat exchange. |
Waste heat recycling reduces our environmental impact and natural gas consumption. |
|
CITIC Pacific Special Steel |
Daye Special Steel reduces overall electricity consumption through measures such as adjusting the electricity consumption structure and optimising the ratio of peak and valley electricity consumption. Properly managed energy at every stage reduces dispersion and energy outsourcing. |
Compared with 2019, the overall electricity consumption per tonne of material decreased by 29.14kW.h/t, and the blast furnace gas dispersion rate decreased by 38.1%. |
|
Jingjiang Special Steel adopts new ternary flow technology to retrofit the pump for energy saving. |
Through frequency control, it reduced 20% energy, saving 120,000kW.h per month. |
CASE STUDIES
CITIC Engineering: Clear water for the Yangtze River
In 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping said that restoring the Yangtze River’s ecological environment should be the country’s top priority. To meet this objective, Wuhan subsequently launched two programmes — the Five Protection Actions and Four Waters.
One of the major undertakings in these programmes is the Clear Water into River project, for which CITIC Engineering is building a sewage collection/treatment/discharge system.
In the first phase of this system, sewage discharged into the Yangtze River is treated to ensure sewage tailwaters are not discharged into lakes. For the second phase (a flood prevention and drainage project), the goal is to solve the problem of frequent flooding in Jiangxia district. Both phases were completed and approved in 2019.
Using Building Information Modelling and intelligent water management services, the capacity of the Jiangxia wastewater treatment plant has now reached a daily capacity of 150,000 tonnes per day. In addition, the flood control and drainage project has withstood flash floods and torrential rains for two consecutive years.
The third phase of the project, which will improve the water management system, was officially launched in 2020. Once completed, this project will significantly improve the local urban water ecology.
Promoting a green office
Our staff are encouraged to maintain a green office by storing all documents (except confidential documents), briefing notes, and information electronically in the system. We have also centralised our management of printing paper, ink cartridges and other office supplies. What’s more, employees of CITIC and our subsidiaries are reminded to conserve water and electricity via posters in common office areas.
Green building design
CITIC Heye, our integrated urban investment and development group, ensured that CITIC Tower (Beijing) would be a building that meets international green standards from the initial design stage. Since the building’s completion, CITIC Heye has introduced further measures to reduce energy consumption and emissions and optimised its operational strategies to ensure better environmental performance.
Green management — Z.BEMS energy management system
-
In collaboration with Azbil, a leading Japanese energy management company, CITIC Heye developed an integrated Building Energy Management System (Z.BEMS) for CITIC Tower (Beijing). Unlike a traditional domestic energy management system, Z.BEMS focuses on diagnosing faults, evaluating and analysing energy consumption, and verifying energy savings using up to 15,000 visual charts. Abnormal energy consumption can thus be detected on this platform and problems resolved in advance. This not only extends the life of the equipment but also prevents major losses due to equipment failure.
-
The system has built-in energy consumption analysis and evaluation, in which the energy consumption management data of more than 100 buildings in Japan have been stored. Other systems and processes have also been incorporated to further improve energy efficiency. With the Z.BEMS energy management system, CITIC Tower (Beijing) saved more than RMB1.5 million in operation costs in 2020.
Green Technology
-
CITIC Tower makes use of a free cooling system, which uses exterior cooling sources for air conditioning. In winter when outdoor temperatures are low, the cooling units and supporting equipment can be turned off so that chilled water can be used to supply cooling directly to the air conditioning system, significantly reducing energy consumption.
-
The solar photovoltaic system on the roof of CITIC Tower comprises 640 CIGS photovoltaic modules, covering an area of 890m2, with a total capacity of 92.8kW. In 2020, a total of 35,941kWh of power was generated through this system.
-
CITIC Tower (Beijing) has installed an energy feedback system in 100 elevators that recovers part of the total elevator energy consumption for direct use by other equipment. This has reduced energy consumption in the elevator system by around 30%.
Green Certification — LEED-CS Gold
-
LEED is a green building assessment system established by the U.S. Green Building Council, covering building water conservation, energy use, materials and resources, as well as indoor environmental quality. It is recognised as the most comprehensive building assessment standard in the international community. On 22 July 2020, CITIC Tower (Beijing) was officially certified with a LEED-CS Gold rating.