On March 12th, the reporter learned from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (hereinafter referred to as the "MIIT") that the MIIT, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the State Administration for Market Regulation recently jointly issued the "Several Opinions on Promoting the High Quality Development of Environmental Protection Equipment Manufacturing Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), focusing on promoting the sustained, healthy, and stable development of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry. Zhu Keli, Executive Director of the China Information Association and Founding President of the National Research Institute for New Economy, believes that the issuance of the "Opinions" injects strong impetus into the development of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry. It not only helps to enhance the international competitiveness of China's environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry, but also provides strong support for achieving the "dual carbon" goal and assisting in the green transformation of the economy and society. Assisting in green transformation and upgrading is an important foundation for promoting green and low-carbon transformation. In recent years, the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry has made significant progress and its industrial scale has continued to grow. According to industry associations, since the 13th Five Year Plan, the compound annual growth rate of the total output value of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry has been close to 6%, reaching 920 billion yuan in 2024. In addition, with the support of policies such as the "Action Plan for High Quality Development of Environmental Protection Equipment Manufacturing Industry (2022-2025)", high-quality enterprises in the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry continue to emerge. According to the "List of Enterprises Eligible for Environmental Protection Equipment Manufacturing Industry Standards (2024 Edition)" released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, there are currently 358 enterprises eligible for environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry standards. The Opinion proposes new development goals for the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry. Specifically, by 2030, the "short board" of the environmental protection technology and equipment industry chain will be independently controllable, the advantages of long board technology and equipment will be further expanded, the scale, product quality, and comprehensive benefits of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry will be further improved, a group of leading enterprises with strong industrial innovation capabilities and comprehensive competitiveness will be cultivated, and the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry will be promoted to comprehensively upgrade from traditional pollution control to green, low-carbon, and circular development. Song Xiangqing, Vice President of the China Society of Business Economics, stated in an interview with reporters that promoting the comprehensive upgrading of China's environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry towards green, low-carbon, and circular development will enhance the independent and controllable capabilities of key technologies and materials in the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry, and provide strong equipment support for green transformation in other fields, helping to promote the construction of ecological civilization. To achieve the goals proposed in the Opinion, policy formulation should focus on precision and scientificity in cultivating new driving forces for industry development, "said Yuan Shuai, Deputy Secretary General of Zhongguancun Internet of Things Industry Alliance. In order to promote the research and development of key environmental protection technology equipment, the Opinion proposes to optimize the strategic scientific and technological strength in the field of environmental protection equipment, promote the joint construction of environmental protection equipment manufacturing innovation centers by advantageous enterprises, universities, and research institutions, integrate relevant innovation resources through the organizational model of "company+alliance", layout forward-looking and disruptive technology development and application, provide research and development diffusion of common key technologies and the first commercial services for industry development, and drive the green and low-carbon transformation of traditional processes and products. The Opinion also focuses on cultivating new driving forces for industry development and promoting the digital and intelligent transformation of the industry. The Opinion proposes to enhance the high-end, intelligent, and green level of traditional environmental protection equipment. Make full use of AI, big data, cloud computing, industrial Internet and other new generation information technologies to improve the digital, intelligent and green level of environmental protection equipment design, production, use, operation and maintenance. Promoting the deep integration of artificial intelligence and other technologies with environmental protection equipment will improve the performance and efficiency of environmental protection equipment Song Xiangqing stated that formulating policies for the introduction of high-end talents in the field of environmental protection equipment and increasing the protection of technological innovation achievements in environmental protection equipment may help improve the digitalization and intelligence level of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry. Zhu Keli suggests that in the future, an excellent environmental protection equipment recommendation list based on user enterprise evaluations can be established to promote effective supply-demand coordination, optimize the market application environment of environmental protection equipment, and accelerate the promotion of advanced environmental protection technology equipment. In addition, improving the standard system and certification mechanism for environmental protection equipment to ensure the quality and performance of the equipment will also provide a solid guarantee for the healthy development of the industry. (New Society)