Firms in China to gain from low-carbon policies

Abstract

Despite nationwide power outages and tightening controls on industry expansion, China’s chemical sector is reaping profits. In 2022, leading firms will seek to align with the country’s low-carbon policies by boosting efforts to upgrade products and decrease energy consumption. From about June to September, power companies responded to surging coal prices and the Chinese government’s effort to reduce energy consumption by cutting output. Thousands of chemical makers were forced to suspend or lower production. In October, the central government put a halt to the power outages. In spite of the upheaval, China’s chemical sector earned $105 billion in profits in the first 10 months of 2021, more than double the profits generated in the same period in 2020, according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China. In contrast, profits across the country’s industrial sector overall rose by a more modest 42%. In part because of strong export market demand