The building materials industry has long been regarded as a typical representative of high energy consumption and high emissions. However, during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, it achieved a significant breakthrough in green and low-carbon transformation.
The carbon emissions of the entire industry have dropped by 24.9% compared with 2020, and have shown a downward trend for five consecutive years. The operating income of green building materials products has exceeded 250 billion yuan.
These hard indicators not only mark the industry’s transformation from scale expansion to technology leadership, but also more accurately capture the new rhythm of China’s economic structure transforming into high-quality development. Its transformation logic is deeply coordinated with the improvement of people’s livelihood and the development of new quality productivity.
In terms of hard data on transformation, during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the building materials industry handed over a systematic green report card.
The core emission reduction indicators performed outstandingly, with total carbon emissions falling by 24.9% compared with 2020, energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of added value falling by 17.4%, and carbon dioxide emissions per 10,000 yuan of added value falling by 25.3%. The industry as a whole has reached carbon peak and entered the carbon neutral stage.
Structural optimization is also progressing simultaneously, and two-thirds of the products have been processed into products, shifting from traditional raw material supply to “materials + products” complexes; the operating income of green building materials products will exceed 250 billion yuan in 2025, with an average annual growth rate of 20% during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period; subdivisions have become new growth engines, with fiberglass composite materials growing at an average annual rate of 15%, and photovoltaic glass output growing at an average annual rate of 29%.
Technological breakthroughs are the core driving force of transformation.
The industry focuses on creating “six-zero” factories (zero purchased electricity, zero fossil energy, zero primary resources, zero carbon emissions, zero waste emissions, and zero front-line employees), with the goal of cultivating more than 100 standardized factories by 2030.
Practical cases have moved from concept to reality. NorthGlass’ “garden-like park” subverts the image of a traditional factory. Its tempering furnace uses precise heating technology to reduce quenching energy consumption by 17%; Hebei Jinyu Dingxin Cement uses an intelligent control system to send domestic waste into a 1450°C cement kiln for collaborative processing, achieving the unity of harmlessness and resource utilization.
At the material level, the new low-carbon cement developed by China National Building Materials Group reduces the carbon emission intensity by 30% and has been prioritized for use in livelihood projects such as the renovation of old communities and affordable housing.
The fourth-generation bionic environmentally friendly glue technology imitates the principles of marine mussels and avoids formaldehyde and other pollutants at the molecular level. It won the gold medal at the International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva.
Digital intelligence has become a new driving force for transformation.
At present, the numerical control rate of key processes in the building materials industry has reached 70%, an increase of 16.2 percentage points from 2020.
AI technology has begun to be deeply integrated into industrial processes, changing traditional experiences.
Red Star Macalline has encapsulated AI capabilities into offline services. After consumers touch the physical materials and scan the QR code, AI can generate different style matching effects within 5 minutes, greatly compressing the traditional design process of several days, solving the pain points of high customer acquisition costs and low conversion efficiency in the home decoration industry, and building a closed loop of trust from “what you see” to “what you get”.
The green transformation of the building materials industry is not an isolated process, but is highly consistent with the new dynamics of China’s economic structure.
The industry covers 34 industry classifications of the national economy, serving more than 150 industries such as construction, new energy, and automobiles, and has become the basic material supporting new productivity.
Its synergistic effect is reflected in three dimensions. In line with new productivity, advanced building materials such as photovoltaic glass and fiberglass composite materials serve emerging fields such as new energy and electronic information, with an average annual growth rate of over 15%. In line with the improvement of people’s livelihood, low-carbon cement and environmentally friendly panels are widely used in the renovation of old communities and affordable housing.
Directly improve the quality of living; with the support of both policy and capital, six departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have promoted the establishment of “60” factories, and five departments including the National Development and Reform Commission have launched a three-year campaign to save energy and reduce carbon emissions in key industries. The capital market has voted with real money. The building materials sector has been active recently, with leading stocks such as NorthGlass and China Jushi rising to their daily limits.
Behind the transformation achievements, challenges cannot be ignored.
The deputy secretary-general of the China Energy Conservation Association pointed out that the carbon emission monitoring system in the central and western regions is weak, small and medium-sized enterprises invest heavily in technological transformation, find financing difficult, and generally lack motivation for green transformation. Regional differences and cost pressures are still realistic bottlenecks in improving quality and efficiency.
Looking to the future, the industry path is clear. The China Building Materials Federation will fully launch the “Six Zero” factory construction action and compile technical guides for key industries. It is expected that by 2030, the revenue of green building materials products will exceed 400 billion yuan, and the industry scale will continue to expand.
From “representative of high energy consumption” to “pioneer of carbon reduction”, the green butterfly transformation of the building materials industry proves that traditional industries can become a key support for high-quality economic development through firm technological innovation and structural optimization, and resonate with the macro pulse of national development.
