Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, National Health Commission, State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, National Bureau of Statistics, Government Offices Administration of the State Council, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Engineering, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission, National Railway Administration, Civil Aviation Administration of China; Market Regulation Administrations (Departments/Commissions), Development and Reform Commissions, competent departments of industry and information technology, competent departments of natural resources, Departments (Bureaus) of Ecology and Environment, Departments (Bureaus/Commissions) of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Departments (Bureaus/Commissions) of Transport, Meteorological Bureaus, Energy Bureaus, competent departments of forestry and grasslands of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:

The Guidelines for the Construction of a Standard System for Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality have been adopted at the plenary meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Joint Conference on Coordination and Advancement of Standardization under the State Council held on February 6, 2023. The Guidelines are hereby issued to you for earnest implementation in light of local realities.

Standardization Administration of China

National Development and Reform Commission

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

Ministry of Natural Resources

Ministry of Ecology and Environment

Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development

Ministry of Transport

People’s Bank of China

China Meteorological Administration

National Energy Administration

National Forestry and Grassland Administration

April 1, 2023

To implement the major strategic decisions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, fully carry out the Outline for National Standardization Development, and in accordance with relevant requirements of the Implementation Plan for Establishing and Improving the Standard and Measurement System for Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality, these Guidelines are formulated to accelerate the development of a carbon peaking and carbon neutrality standard system featuring a rational structure, clear tiers and compatibility with high-quality economic and social development.

We will be guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implement the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, thoroughly apply Xi Jinping’s Thought on Ecological Civilization, base our efforts on the new development stage, fully, accurately and comprehensively apply the new development philosophy, and accelerate the fostering of a new development pattern. We will uphold a systematic approach, prioritize top-level design of standards, boost effective supply of standards, maximize implementation benefits of standards, and coordinate domestic and international standardization work. We will continuously improve the standard system and strive to leverage standardization to contribute to the attainment of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.

• Adopt systematic layout. Strengthen top-level design, optimize the dual structure of government-formulated standards and market self-developed standards, enhance coordination between standards across industries and sectors, improve the applicability and effectiveness of standards, and realize alignment and compatibility of standards at all levels and of all types.
• Prioritize key areas. Accelerate the improvement of basic universal standards. Focus on key sectors and industries to advance the formulation and revision of energy conservation and carbon reduction standards. Timely translate technological innovations for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality into standards, and drive green development through scientific and technological innovation.
• Advance steadily. Anchor near-term targets and long-term development needs for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, speed up standard upgrading, solidly push forward standard development, balance systematic advancement with priority for urgent needs, and implement relevant work in an orderly and steady manner by year and by phase.
• Pursue openness and integration. Solidly advance international exchanges and cooperation on standardization, actively participate in the formulation of international standard rules, strengthen overall coordination of international standardization work, intensify overseas promotion of Chinese standards, and advance alignment between domestic and international standards.

A sound standard system for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality will be basically built centering on basic universal standards as well as development demands of carbon emission reduction, carbon removal and carbon markets. By 2025, no fewer than 1,000 national and industrial standards (including foreign language versions) will be formulated or revised; alignment with international standards will be markedly improved; carbon accounting and verification standards will cover all major industries; indicators of energy consumption and energy efficiency standards for key industries and products will see steady upgrading. China will substantially participate in the development of no fewer than 30 international standards related to green and low-carbon development, marking notable progress in international standardization capacity in green and low-carbon fields.

The standard system for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality consists of four primary subsystems: basic universal standard subsystem, carbon emission reduction standard subsystem, carbon removal standard subsystem and market-oriented mechanism standard subsystem, which are further subdivided into 15 secondary subsystems and 63 tertiary subsystems. Covering carbon peaking and carbon neutrality work in key sectors and fields including energy, industry, transportation, urban and rural construction, water conservancy, agriculture and rural areas, forestry and grasslands, finance, public institutions and residents’ daily life, the system supports application scenarios at regional, industrial, park and organizational levels. The standard system will be dynamically adjusted in accordance with development needs.

Prioritize the formulation and revision of standards covering terms and definitions related to greenhouse gas (GHG) and climate change response management, technical specifications for classification and coding of carbon emission data, collection methods and requirements for carbon emission information, and carbon information disclosure.

Accelerate the development and revision of standards for monitoring methods, monitoring equipment, online monitoring systems and carbon management platform construction for carbon dioxide, methane and other GHGs, as well as standards for long-term dynamic observation, monitoring, assessment and forecasting of physical and chemical properties of atmospheric components. Formulate and revise standards for carbon emission accounting and reporting at regional and park levels. Speed up the development of standards for carbon emission accounting and reporting and supporting data quality specifications for enterprises in key industries including energy, metallurgy, building materials, chemical industry, non-ferrous metals, textiles, machinery, information and communications, transportation, and livestock breeding. Improve standards for assessing carbon emission reductions generated by typical projects such as energy efficiency improvement, renewable energy utilization, raw and fuel substitution, residual energy recovery, carbon sequestration via biological, marine, forest, grassland and soil sinks, and livestock breeding. Develop general standards for quantifying product carbon footprints and product category rules, and explore standards for carbon emission accounting and carbon footprints of key products. Revise basic universal standards governing carbon emission verification procedures, practitioners and institutions.。

Prioritize standards for green and low-carbon evaluation and environmental impact assessment of cities, facilities, enterprises, supply chains, industrial parks and technologies, green product evaluation standards, statistical and accounting standards for green low-carbon industries, general principles for carbon neutrality evaluation, as well as universal standards for planning & design, management systems and implementation evaluation for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in various application scenarios.

Accelerate the formulation and revision of mandatory energy consumption quota standards for key industries including thermal power, iron and steel, building materials, chemical engineering, non-ferrous metals, coal mining, light industry, machinery and transportation, and coordinate energy consumption quota indicators with carbon emission intensity indicators. Adopt a coordinated approach to pollution and carbon reduction integrating source control and end-of-pipe treatment, and leverage standards to drive transformation, optimization, adjustment and advancement. Benchmark against advanced international levels to upgrade mandatory energy efficiency standards for key products and equipment such as household appliances, rural heating equipment, refrigeration and cold chain logistics equipment, industrial machinery, lighting products, data centers, new and renewable energy equipment and mechanical manufacturing facilities. Improve supporting standards for mandatory energy conservation standards, including energy consumption calculation, energy efficiency testing, energy conservation assessment, energy-saving acceptance and energy audit.

Speed up the development of foundational standards covering energy-saving design and planning, energy balance calculation, energy management systems, energy performance evaluation, economic operation, rational energy utilization, energy conservation diagnosis, energy-saving services and evaluation of green and resource-efficient organizations. Refine general technical standards for energy efficiency benchmarking, energy-saving technology evaluation, system-wide energy conservation, energy recovery, residual energy utilization, energy system optimization, high-efficiency energy-saving equipment, energy conservation monitoring, energy saving measurement and verification, energy metering, digital enabling technologies, regional energy systems, distributed energy systems and energy management control centers.

• Hydropower: Prioritize standards for capacity expansion and efficiency improvement, stable wide-load operation, operational condition assessment and life extension of hydropower units, as well as technical standards for green renovation of small hydropower stations, ecological flow and safety appraisal.
• Wind power: Focus on standards for wind resource monitoring, assessment and wind power forecasting, wind turbine generators and core components, fire protection systems, tower materials, offshore wind farm construction and grid connection, and wind power system stability calculation.
• Photovoltaic power: Develop technical standards for solar resource monitoring, assessment and irradiance forecasting; specify technical requirements, flame retardancy and fire resistance criteria, testing methods and green low-carbon specifications for high-efficiency photovoltaic cells, modules, key materials, electrical components and supporting structures; formulate standards for repair, renovation, life extension, recycling and reuse of core equipment including PV modules, brackets and inverters.
• Solar thermal utilization: Establish standards for concentrating solar power equipment and direct normal irradiance forecasting; improve specifications for key solar heat collection materials and components together with testing and evaluation standards, solar heating & cooling systems and multi-energy complementary solar systems.
• Nuclear power: Revise nuclear power technical standards, nuclear plant risk management standards, maintenance effectiveness evaluation standards and nuclear power plant site assessment standards.
• Biomass energy: Develop standards covering raw material quality control, core technologies, equipment and product grading for municipal solid waste incineration power generation, agricultural and forestry biomass cogeneration, clean biomass heating, biomethane (biogas), biomass pyrolysis gasification, biomass liquid fuels and biomass briquettes.
• Hydrogen energy: Improve full-industry-chain technical standards; accelerate basic universal standards for hydrogen fuel quality and testing; formulate safety standards for hydrogen and hydrogen systems including risk assessment, hydrogen sealing, hydrogen-compatible materials, hydrogen leak detection, explosion suppression and emergency venting; develop safety specifications for hydrogen refueling mother stations and integrated oil-gas-hydrogen-electricity energy stations; establish standards for water electrolysis hydrogen production systems and core parts, refinery hydrogen preparation and testing, hydrogen liquefaction equipment, liquid hydrogen storage vessels, high-pressure gaseous hydrogen transportation and pure/mixed hydrogen pipelines; specify requirements for hydrogen refueling station systems, core technologies and equipment; develop technical standards for hydrogen applications in fuel cells, metallurgy and other sectors.
• Marine and geothermal energy: Prioritize standards for testing, assessment, deployment and operation of marine energy power generation equipment and geothermal power generation equipment.

• Grid side: Develop technical standards for secondary substation systems, operation and protection of AC-DC hybrid microgrids, grid integration of new energy, distribution networks and energy internet.
• Power source side: Formulate standards for distributed generation operation control, power quality and power forecasting.
• Load side: Establish standards for power market load forecasting, demand-side management, virtual power plant construction, evaluation and grid connection.
• Energy storage: Develop standards for pumped hydro storage; cover new energy storage technologies including electrochemistry, compressed air, flywheel, gravity, carbon dioxide, thermal/cold storage, hydrogen/ammonia and superconducting storage; specify criteria for grid connection of energy storage systems, safety management and emergency disposal.

• Coal: Formulate standards for coal screening, geological environment survey of subsidence areas, ecological restoration effectiveness evaluation, intelligent coal sample preparation, laboratory testing system performance and component classification measurement.
• Petroleum: Develop technical standards for low-carbon oil extraction and refining, as well as standards for low-emission, high-calorific-value and high-efficiency fuels.
• Natural gas: Establish specifications for liquefied natural gas quality, flow measurement, sampling guidelines, composition analysis, tail gas treatment and evaluation, pipeline transportation and shale gas technologies.

• Carbon reduction in industrial production: Prioritize key technical standards and reference materials for low-carbon carbon sequestration technologies, low-carbon processes and equipment, non-CO₂ GHG abatement technologies, raw material and fuel substitution, low-carbon detection and metering analysis, green manufacturing and water conservation for industries including iron & steel, petrochemicals, chemical engineering, non-ferrous metals, building materials, machinery, papermaking, textiles, automobile manufacturing and food processing.
• Green low-carbon transportation: Develop energy efficiency standards for infrastructure and equipment in railway, highway, waterway, civil aviation and postal sectors; specify standards for green logistics equipment and facilities, efficient transport organization, green travel, diversified low-carbon power systems for transport vehicles, green transport terminals, integrated transport and energy systems, and coordinated pollution & carbon reduction across the industry. Improve technical standards for energy storage trams, energy storage systems, power battery systems and electricity measurement in rail transit. Revise standards on fuel consumption limits and labeling for road vehicles, fuel consumption test calculation and evaluation methods. Accelerate safety, performance and testing standards for electric vehicle drive systems, charging & battery swapping systems and power batteries, as well as remote service management and safety inspection specifications. Conduct research on the next phase of vehicle emission standards to advance coordinated pollution and carbon abatement for motor vehicles.
• Carbon reduction in infrastructure construction and operation: Formulate standards for low-carbon urban infrastructure construction, low-carbon residential buildings, low-carbon smart industrial parks, low-carbon renovation of rural housing, green construction, resource recovery of sewage and solid waste, and seawater desalination; develop specifications for construction waste recycling equipment and air-source heat pumps; establish engineering, operation, metering and recycling standards for information and communications infrastructure including communication networks, data centers and computer rooms oriented toward energy conservation and carbon reduction targets.
• Carbon reduction in agricultural production: Develop technical standards for GHG abatement in crop farming, as well as livestock breeding emission reduction technologies including enteric methane mitigation and liquid manure treatment; improve energy-saving and low-carbon standards for factory agriculture, large-scale breeding and agricultural machinery.
• Energy conservation and low-carbon development in public institutions: Formulate standards for energy and resource conservation and green renovation of typical public institutions such as government offices, hospitals and schools; establish evaluation criteria for resource-efficient government agencies, green schools, green hospitals and green venues; develop management standards for low-carbon construction and low-carbon economic operation of public institutions.