China Advances Large-Scale Construction of Zero-Carbon Parks to Boost Green Energy Transition

Recently, at the 2026 "Smart Energy and Zero-Carbon Future Roundtable" event, participants noted that zero-carbon parks, through energy substitution and transition from traditional energy to renewable energy, have become an important starting point for accelerating the construction of a new energy system. Moving forward, efforts will focus on building an open and collaborative production system for zero-carbon parks to promote the green and low-carbon transition of industrial and supply chains.

Previously, three national departments jointly issued the "List of National Zero-Carbon Park Construction (First Batch)", announcing 52 national zero-carbon parks and marking the entry of zero-carbon park construction into a stage of large-scale practice. A core indicator for evaluating zero-carbon parks, "carbon emissions per unit of energy consumption" — referring to the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per ton of standard coal consumed in the park — has been innovatively proposed to guide parks to achieve "near-zero" carbon emissions while ensuring enterprise development and energy supply.

Zero-carbon parks are no longer merely a technical concept or local pilot, but a core grasp and important support for reshaping industrial competitiveness and promoting high-quality economic and social development. To turn the zero-carbon concept from a blueprint into reality, it is necessary to clarify the technical path for the development of zero-carbon parks and solve economic challenges; build an open, collaborative and benefit-sharing production system for zero-carbon parks; improve a scientific, rigorous and leading standard and evaluation system for zero-carbon parks; and activate the dual driving forces of policies and finance to realize the transformation from "policy-driven support" to "market-driven vitality".

2026 is a crucial period for the planning and design of the first batch of zero-carbon parks, as industrial practice has rapidly moved from concept exploration and local pilot to a new stage of large-scale and standardized construction. It is essential to fully grasp the internal connection between low-carbon development and park industrial development, and promote the overall green and low-carbon transition of industrial and supply chains.

During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the competitiveness of zero-carbon parks will shift from the traditional "output value per mu" to "carbon sink per mu" and "carbon emission output value corresponding to the output value of unit production products". Zero-carbon parks are not only a collection of physical factories but also a trading center for data assets.

In terms of intelligent management, the energy supply and consumption systems of zero-carbon parks and enterprises should be planned and designed synchronously with intelligent energy and carbon management systems. Special optical fiber channels for intelligent energy and carbon management systems should be built between zero-carbon parks and enterprises, with steady progress in formulating construction and operation and maintenance standards for such systems, and improving the coordination mechanism for their construction.

Refined electricity-carbon factors have become an important issue in the field of electricity-carbon accounting, with time-sharing and zonal electricity-carbon factors as the main direction. In the time-sharing dimension, real-time tracking of the output curves of various power sources enables accurate calculation of the proportion of green power in the power grid at each moment, objectively reflecting the differences in the "green content" of electricity at different times and fully reflecting the carbon reduction contribution of customers’ consumption of new energy. In the zonal dimension, the "power source connection location method" has been proposed to solve the problem of spatial allocation of power carbon emissions.

With the advancement of large-scale and standardized construction, zero-carbon parks will further play a key role in promoting the green and low-carbon transition of industries, accelerating the construction of a new energy system, and injecting strong momentum into China’s high-quality development.