my country will reach its carbon peak by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. In order to cope with the challenges brought about by global climate change and environmental pollution and achieve sustainable economic development in China, China announced to the world for the first time in 2020 that carbon dioxide emissions will peak by 2030, and strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. . The so-called carbon peak means that the annual carbon dioxide emissions of a certain region or industry reach the highest value in history, and then go through a plateau period and enter the process of continuous decline, which is the historical inflection point of carbon dioxide emissions from increasing to decreasing. Carbon neutrality refers to the direct and indirect emission of carbon dioxide by human activities in a certain area within a certain period of time (usually one year), which offsets the carbon dioxide absorbed by afforestation, etc., to achieve “net zero emissions” of carbon dioxide.
The chemical industry is an energy-intensive industry, and it has a greater impact in the context of carbon neutrality. The 2021 government work report emphasizes that “promoting green development and promoting the harmonious coexistence of man and nature” is one of the main goals and tasks during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period. Specifically, we adhere to the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, strengthen the management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes and grasslands, accelerate the construction of important ecological barriers, and build a natural reserve system with national parks as the main body, with a forest coverage rate of 24.1%. Continue to improve environmental quality and basically eliminate heavily polluted weather and urban black and odorous water bodies. Implement the 2030 Nationally Determined Contributions on Climate Change. Accelerate the green transformation of development mode, promote high-quality economic development and high-level protection of the ecological environment in a coordinated manner, and reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP and carbon dioxide emissions by 13.5% and 18%, respectively. Among them, the chemical industry is a very energy-intensive industry. Therefore, the chemical industry will face the dual impact of reducing energy consumption and reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the future.
At present, degradable plastics are still in the stage of publicity and promotion, and the degree of marketization is not high. In industries mandated by the state, such as disposable water cups, lunch boxes, cutlery and other daily-use plastic products in the catering industry, the proportion of degradable plastics is relatively high, while the use of degradable plastics in industry and agriculture is relatively low. .
Many factors boost the development of degradable plastic packaging
In the long run, the awareness of domestic environmental protection has increased, and the field of degradable plastics has been expanded; the demand for environmentally friendly materials abroad has increased, and the export volume of degradable plastics has increased; the production process of domestic degradable plastics has become more and more mature, and the cost has gradually decreased to a level acceptable to the downstream. scope. With the maturity and cooperation of various conditions, degradable plastics still have relatively broad development prospects. The cost of technology is the biggest problem of competition in the degradable plastics market. Compared with traditional plastic products, biodegradable materials consume less energy and emit less CO2. In the context of carbon neutrality, degradable materials offer a completely new way of thinking for the chemical industry. However, at present, the production capacity of degradable plastics in my country is small, whether it is PLA or PBAT. On the one hand, the cost was high in the past, which was not paid attention to, on the other hand, the synthesis process was relatively complicated, and the policy and financial support was not enough. Affected by the plastic restriction order, it can be seen that my country’s degradable plastics market has a huge space in the future, and many manufacturers have indicated that they are already building or planning a number of degradable plastics production capacity. We believe that the short-term competition in the degradable plastics market will be based on the speed of construction, and in the long-term, it will be competitive cost advantages and technological advantages. Whoever can minimize the cost of degradable plastics, or even exceed traditional plastics, will gain the largest market space.
