A survey analysis of low carbon technology diffusion in China's iron & steel industry

Abstract

This study estimates how carbon price affects diffusion of low carbon technologies using data collected from 60 iron & steel companies in China. The analysis indicates that the industry is familiar with related key energy saving and low carbon technologies and has made much progress in energy saving, but efforts in carbon management need improving. An average payback time threshold of 4.1 years was found as regards decision in invest in technology. The three target technologies were adopted by companies to different extents. Carbon emissions pricing was found to be ineffective in promoting the scale-up or further adoption of economically advantageous technologies such as dry top pressure recovery turbine (Dry TRT) and energy management centre (EMC) technology. A moderate carbon price for sintering waste heat recovery power generation (Sintering WHR), which has adoption potential in China's iron & steel industry, may generate comparatively significant effects for diffusion. This research sheds light on how diffusion of low carbon technologies would be affected and the consequences thereof on climate policy development for the target sector in China.