Breaking through the low-carbon challenge in the “mid-term exam”: Three questions to be answered in China's green transformation
When "dual carbon" is no longer just an indicator.
"We are now in the final countdown to 2030."
This is the common judgment of many enterprises, investors, and policy researchers this year.
In the past, many enterprises regarded the dual - carbon strategy as policy pressure, compliance cost, or "a future issue that can be postponed." However, as we enter 2025, with less than five years left until the 2030 "carbon peak" target, China's green transformation has entered a substantial stress - test stage.
The vision of leading enterprises in the industrial chain, the effectiveness of policies, and the underlying variables of technology will all be comprehensively tested in 2030.
Some enterprises have begun to wake up to the fact that the traditional passive response is no longer sustainable. What truly drives growth is no longer the "visible subsidies," but the reshaping of industrial logic and the competition in technological tracks behind them. More intriguingly, a new type of collaborative model led by leading enterprises in the industrial chain is quietly taking shape.
A new judgment is gradually emerging: In the future, the enterprises that can withstand the test of economic cycles are not those that are "the greenest," but those that are the first to integrate green capabilities into their structural advantages.
This time, starting from three major scenarios of future automobiles, future energy, and future cities, we engaged in dialogues with capital providers, enterprises, and policy - makers, attempting to answer three questions:
What are the real challenges of China's dual - carbon transformation? Which enterprises are at the forefront of path verification? And how can we build a green industrial system suitable for the Chinese context?
01
Three Questions about China's Green Transformation
Q1: Is low - carbon transformation a "compliance burden" or an "efficiency dividend"?
In the traditional manufacturing system, "green and low - carbon" often means additional costs, longer investment cycles, and compressed profits. However, today, from new - energy vehicles to new - type energy storage, green transformation is rewriting the cost structure itself.
"Liquid - cooling technology has changed from an energy - saving option to a necessity. Its value lies not only in energy conservation but also in the reconstruction of the entire thermal management system," pointed out Wang Mengcheng, the co - founder and deputy general manager of Lanyang Technology. Lanyang is a domestic technology service provider of overall liquid - cooling solutions, which has almost accompanied the "infrastructure" development of multiple industries.
Indeed, in the context where traditional air - cooling can no longer meet the requirements of emerging scenarios such as AI computing power and smart hardware, the liquid - cooling solution has become a key link in solving the "thermal barrier" and a new "lever" for cost reduction and efficiency improvement in high - energy - consuming industries. Especially in data centers and large - model training computing power centers, liquid - cooling is becoming the infrastructure for "chip efficiency."
Material enterprises, which are more upstream in the industry, are more sensitive to the changes in the market. Zhaichi Technology, a material company focusing on nano - silicon - based anodes, may have more say. As an indispensable part of the lithium - battery industry, it can better feel the information transmitted from the end - user. Wang Wei, the founder and CEO of Zhaichi Technology, said that in the past, material enterprises were mostly regarded as ancillary roles in the "cost segment," but now, "we realize that we must cooperate with upstream and downstream enterprises to jointly define product boundaries." This change means that enterprises need to evolve from "raw material suppliers" to "efficiency partners."
From the perspective of capital, the dual - carbon goal is forcing enterprises to build sustainable core competitiveness. An interesting phenomenon is that the enterprises that truly survive are not those that have simply "reduced emissions," but those that have "built new moats through emission reduction." "The dual - carbon goal is not just an environmental protection directive but an entry point for industrial upgrading," said Liu Xiaokang, the deputy director of the executive committee of Orient Securities Capital. "In the future, the dominance will belong to those players who have placed early bets on supply - chain reconstruction and energy - structure optimization."
"Going green is not just about adding a solar panel; it is about re - optimizing the overall efficiency structure of an enterprise. The real 'dual - carbon capability' is the ability to organize complex systems," Liu Xiaokang believes. In his view, this round of green transformation has shifted from "external pressure" to "internal value." In the past, enterprises reduced emissions for compliance; now, they go green for efficiency. Moreover, whether an enterprise has "low - carbon capabilities" is becoming an implicit criterion for its "leading position" in the industrial chain.
Q2: After the technological leap, can the system and the market support the implementation?
In many industries, the most advanced technologies are not always implemented the fastest, and the most market - valuable innovations do not always receive timely policy support.
The same is true for low - carbon transformation. Technology alone is not enough. The synchronization of systems, standards, and supporting policies is the foundation for it to move from the laboratory to the factory. And the maturity and perfection of the supporting industrial chain are the key factors in determining its marketization.
The relatively new low - altitude economy is a direct example. Zero Gravity, a company with relatively mature new - energy aircraft and eVTOL flight product solutions, provides the perspective of an end - user enterprise. Take Zero Gravity Aircraft Industry as an example. The company is promoting the application for the Type Certificate (TC) of its unmanned eVTOL aircraft ZG - ONE Quefei. Chen Yan, the chief strategy officer of Zero Gravity, admitted that the biggest bottleneck of the project is not design and manufacturing, but "there are only a few domestic supply - chain enterprises that meet the qualification requirements under the airworthiness standards." If the company adheres to domestic production, it means building a compliance system from scratch, establishing testing logic, and filling institutional gaps.
Zero Gravity's second - generation model ZG - ONE Quefei
It is not only in the aviation field. Lanyang Technology also encountered similar problems when deploying liquid - cooling systems in computing power centers: the lack of standards, vague indicator definitions, and difficulties in implementing local policies have made it difficult for enterprises to promote large - scale industrialization. They have to grope their way forward.
Relatively speaking, the policy - related issues have been resolved. Most local governments have established "dual - carbon special teams" or special - fund mechanisms, and "institutional innovation" has moved from "verbal support" to the stage of specific resource allocation.
However, industry standards are still lagging behind in the face of new industries. A person close to the policy revealed: "Many local governments have realized that the system is not just a supporting role but an integral part of the industrial system. The next three years will be a stress - test window for park systems and local regulations. If institutional construction cannot keep pace with technological iteration, green innovation may get stuck in the implementation stage."
Q3: Can the low - carbon economy drive the evolution of urban forms simultaneously?
Low - carbon is not just an issue at the industrial level. It is also redefining the urban structure and promoting a new round of "urban operating system updates."
Especially in the promotion of low - altitude economy, distributed energy, and unmanned logistics, we can see that "green technology" is not only reshaping industries but also redefining "how cities organize the flow of people, goods, and information."
Chen Yan pointed out that "eVTOL and other electric aviation technologies are not supplements to cars but an integral part of the new - type urban spatial structure. They change the traffic logic and the dimension of urban flow."
To drive such changes, relying solely on enterprises is far from enough. Lu Jiangping said: "In the low - carbon economy, the real driving force comes from the combination of underlying technology and scenario implementation. China's advantage lies in its complete industrial chain and large - scale verification capabilities." He emphasized that cities are the largest "scenario laboratories" for implementation, and the government and the industrial chain need to work together to build a new paradigm.
Currently, cities such as Shenzhen, Hangzhou, and Hefei are piloting the integration of eVTOL, urban energy - replenishment infrastructure, and unmanned logistics networks into their urban renewal blueprints. Going green is not just about "emission reduction" but about constructing a new - type urban paradigm with more flexibility and higher synergy.
02
Different Scenarios, Different Breakthrough Paths
Although starting from the same "dual - carbon" starting line, different industries have already taken different paths.
The automobile industry is reconstructing its cost structure, the energy industry is reconfiguring its system efficiency, and the low - altitude economy is testing and expanding its industrial space. Green transformation has not brought a unified solution but has revealed three completely different breakthrough logics.
In the new - energy vehicle scenario, the core competitiveness of enterprises has shifted from "product parameters" to "link dominance." Negative - electrode material companies represented by Zhaichi Technology are typical examples.
"Low - carbon is no longer just a compliance action but a reconstruction of the underlying logic of the industry," Wang Wei specifically pointed out that the concept of low - carbon and green has changed from a passive response to an active choice. Against the background of the increasing safety standards of consumer electronics and the performance improvement of power batteries, material suppliers can only be truly accepted by leading enterprises in the industrial chain and end - users when they enter the "system - solution" level.
Compared with the evolution of material technology in the automobile field, in the energy field represented by the sub - tracks of wind, solar, hydrogen, and energy storage, the key lies in cost reduction through system integration and the improvement of industry - standard maturity.
Lanyang Technology regards liquid - cooling technology as a "necessary upgrade at the energy - equipment level." Wang Mengcheng believes that "liquid - cooling is no longer a supporting option but the core variable of the entire thermal management system. It conforms to the dual - carbon logic and is naturally compatible with the requirements of high - performance computing and AI computing power."
Lanyang Technology's new - type intelligent - drive self - circulating liquid - cooling temperature - control server
More importantly, the liquid - cooling solution has entered the actual deployment stage rather than just being a technological exhibition. Wang Mengcheng revealed that Lanyang has cooperated with three major operators and many overseas customers, and multiple liquid - cooling cases have been implemented, covering the heat - dissipation needs of computing power centers, new - energy vehicles, charging piles, energy storage, and other scenarios. However, "the most difficult part is not technological breakthrough but large - scale industrial verification," because "if green products cannot be quickly accepted by market standards, they will only remain on the display boards."
This understanding reminds us that in the wind, solar, hydrogen, and energy - storage industries, in addition to technological capabilities, standardization capabilities and product integration capabilities are becoming the dividing line for enterprises' survival.
During the interview on the low - altitude economy, Chen Yan's answer still echoes. He admitted that "the problem is not a technological bottleneck but the shortage of compliant suppliers."
Compared with the traditional industries, where upgrading can be achieved by "changing suppliers," the challenge of the low - altitude economy lies in "raising the entire domestic supply chain to a new level." Behind this is the systematic complexity of a complete set of institutional support, airspace management reform, and commercial implementation paths.
Behind the different structural propositions of these three sub - tracks, there is a common trend: green transformation has gone beyond the single indicator of "emission reduction" and has been integrated into the systematic evolution of industrial efficiency, product logic, and business sustainability.
03
The New Round of "Carbon Exploration Plan": Why Should We Re - understand Green from Leading Enterprises in the Industrial Chain?
In the past three years, 36Kr, in cooperation with Orient Securities and its subsidiaries Orient Securities Innovation and Orient Securities Capital, jointly launched the "Dual - Carbon Star Species · Sustainable Innovation Competition," which has attracted more than 400 enterprises to participate. A group of "new industrial species" with both sustainable capabilities and commercial potential have been discovered in multiple sub - fields. Some of them are breaking through from the material end, some are entering the core of industrial - chain collaboration, and some have even been included in the policy pilot directory and become practitioners of regional dual - carbon implementation.
However, in 2025, when the "3060" strategy has reached the mid - term assessment stage, the market and policies have put forward more practical propositions than "innovation": Who can implement the projects? Who can be sustainable? Who can truly turn green capabilities into structural advantages?
In this year, capital, the government, and the industry are working more closely together to promote the "large - scale verification" of green capabilities. Therefore, from concept to structure, from selection to on - site investigation, from the competition to on - site visits, a new round of "Carbon Exploration Plan" has emerged.
As the fourth year of the "Dual - Carbon Star Species" series, the "Carbon Exploration Plan" no longer focuses on track competition and technological evaluation but goes deep into the middle of the industrial chain and the industrial site - observing whether leading enterprises in the industrial chain have truly completed the "deep - seated integration" of green transformation, understanding how green capabilities are systematically integrated through products, organizations, and systems, and finally forming the internal driving force of the industry to withstand economic cycles.
This year's "Carbon Exploration Plan" focuses on three core scenarios of future energy, future transportation, and future cities. It is carried out through three major modules: on - site visits to leading enterprises in the industrial chain, roadshows of innovative projects, and closed - loop resource docking, from the perspectives of government guidance, enterprise practice, and capital investment. We believe that a real green path is never an isolated "technological achievement" but the result of "systematic collaboration."
"At this stage, it is not about talking about concepts but about verifying the structure on the ground," Liu Xiaokang's judgment may be an answer to the current mid - term assessment of the "3060" strategy. "Leading enterprises in the industrial chain are not just the leaders but also the problem - raisers at the 'climate - enterprise level.' Finding them means finding the root of the problem."
The first - phase on - site visit will be held on July 24 in Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone, focusing on the core enterprises in the new - energy vehicle industrial chain there. Geographically, Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone is located at the transportation hub of the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration and is also a key area for the implementation of multiple new - energy vehicle industrial plans. Industrially, many complete - vehicle enterprises such as BYD, Yutong Bus, and Nissan's Zhengzhou factory are concentrated here, forming a supporting system for components such as power batteries, electric controls, and motors. With the coordinated promotion of the new round of the "Henan - made Vehicles Going Global" strategy and the central - region dual - carbon park policy, Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone has become an important part of the central - region new - energy manufacturing ecosystem.
What we hope to see here is not just the single - point display of technological highlights but how the entire industrial chain has completed collaborative construction around the "green structure": from material suppliers to general assembly plants, from local governments to industrial parks, from the spill - over of market demand to the structural iteration of supply - chain efficiency.
Lu Jiangping also emphasized that "today, it is not about competing in a popular track but about whether a company can integrate green factors into its real - production structure and have a radiation effect on the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain."
In every industrial leap, there is no shortage of trends and concepts. What is truly scarce is the structural ability to withstand economic cycles. The next three years will be a critical window for China's green and low - carbon industry to transform from a concept to a systematic solution.
The value of the 'Carbon Exploration Plan' lies in going to the front line to find those practitioners who can truly transform 'green' into systematic synergy. They may not be the most prominent, but they are likely to be the ones worthy of investment in the future.
Is it a false proposition or a new paradigm?
The decision no longer depends on "popularity" but on