Recently, CITIC Environment Investment Group, a subsidiary of CITIC Limited, released its first ESG report, which discloses its long-term responsibility practice in environment, society and governance from four aspects, namely, sustainable environmental protection, responsible investment and operation, innovative-oriented science and technology  development and social contribution. As CITIC's flagship platform in the field of environmental protection, CITIC Environment takes pollution prevention and environmental protection as its mission, and puts science and technology  innovation as its first strategy. CITIC Environment’s business mainly focuses on water treatment, solid waste processing, and energy conservation and emission reduction, striving to making water purification technology more efficient, solid waste disposal more harmless, and energy management more intelligent.

The report indicates that in 2021, CITIC Environment's holding enterprises and joint-ventures treated 428 million tons of sewage, generated over 4.2 billion KWh of power from solid waste, treated and disposed 90,000 tons of hazardous waste and 190,000 tons of activated sludge, reduced 20,000 tons of COD, 1,000 tons of ammonia nitrogen, more than 6,000 tons of SS, 10,000 tons of total nitrogen and 143 tons of total phosphorus; CITIC Envirotech was approved as one of the first co-construction enterprise of national technical standard innovation base, and Memstar membrane was recognized as "specialized and refined product" by Jiangsu Province; Chongqing Sanfeng Environment’s Kunming airport power generation demonstration project passed the acceptance and was jointly awarded the title of "waste incineration demonstration enterprise" by the World Bank and MEE of China; Chaonan Textile Printing and Dyeing Integrated Environmental Treatment Center Project in Guangdong was named as "China Textile Printing and Dyeing Circular Economy Industrial Park Demonstration Base" by China Printing and Dyeing Industry Association, and was selected as a typical "One belt and one road" case of pollution reduction and carbon reduction by MEE.

Sewage treatment makes every drop of water valuable

As an enterprise possessing world-leading water treatment technology, CITIC Environment is committed to promoting industry development with its technological advantages, and continuously improves wastewater recycling and effluent standards, making unremitting efforts to improve water resources utilization and ensure urban water safety use. 

Technological innovation builds core competitiveness. Membrane manufacturing is the core business of CITIC Environment. CITIC Envirotech firmly grasps advantages of membrane R&D and manufacturing. Its subsidiary Memstar is one of the very few world-leading manufacturers and suppliers which possesses full-spectrum capabilities in R&D, production, and application for membrane products including Microfiltration (MF), Ultrafiltration (UF), Nanofiltration (NF) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) membranes. O2, an environmental protection technology assessment group in UK, has authenticated Memstar’s independently developed PVDF hollow fiber, considering its comprehensive performance ranks top three globally. In 2021, CITIC Envirotech set up R&D Institute, and new patents reached 35 for the whole year.

Model innovation leads industry development. Relying on world-leading membrane products, CITIC Environment has applied MBR (membrane bioreactor) technology, continuous membrane filtration (CMF) technology and reverse osmosis (RO) technology to various water treatment projects, and has made remarkable achievements in areas like difficult industrial wastewater, high requirements large-scale municipal wastewater and drinking water. The wastewater treatment technology with high efficiency and low energy consumption realizes its better effect via MBR membrane equipment manufacturing, technology optimization and upgrading and other combined technologies.

In addition, CITIC Environment pioneers the comprehensive application of both Memstar membrane and buried sewage plant, continuously exploring new technologies and paths for energy conservation, consumption reduction, and quality and efficiency improvement through fine management and process optimization. This has produced a wide range of economic and social benefits in urban land saving, operation cost reduction and sewage recycling improvement. CITIC Envirotech completed upgrading and expansion of Hebei Bazhou sewage treatment plant in 2021, and successfully finished water supplying of Pinghe river basin treatment project, contributing to building an ecological Xiong’an which is "blue and green, fresh and bright, water and city blending together". 

Xiong'an Pinghe Water Acceptance Inspection in 2021 

Xiong'an Pinghe Wetland Restoration Rendering

Solid waste disposal turning waste into treasure

With the development of national industrialization and urbanization as well as improvement of people's living standards, the dilemma of industrial waste pollution and household waste siege became increasingly prominent . CITIC Environment treats solid waste from the source with the whole industrial chain service advantages, and promotes coordinated development of harmless domestic waste and recycling of hazardous industrial waste, so as to provide the public with a more livable urban environment and a cleaner natural environment.

Harmless waste disposal makes life better. Since China encourage domestic waste incineration power generation from 2000, CITIC Environment’s subsidiary Chongqing Sanfeng Environment took the lead in introducing and optimizing the German Martin furnace technology. Facing the characteristics of low calorific value and high water content of domestic waste in China, Sanfeng Environment insisted on problem-orientation and independent innovation. The Company broke foreign technology monopoly in business for 4 years and eventually realized the full set of domestic equipment optimization. At present, Sanfeng Environment has become one of the leading enterprises in the waste incineration power generation industry. By the end of 2021, Sanfeng Environment has invested 51 waste incineration power generation projects, with a daily domestic waste treatment capacity of 56,000 tons, leading domestic market share. Sanfeng Environment’s technology and equipment have been applied to 225 waste incineration power generation projects of China and 8 other countries, including United States, India, and Thailand.

Resource utilization of hazardous waste makes environment safer. In the field of industrial hazardous waste treatment, CITIC Environment starts from industrial upgrading promotion. With the goal of recycling, CITIC Environment continues to tackle core technologies and integrates a full set of incineration materialization and landfilling with independent intellectual property rights. Meanwhile, CITIC Environment successfully built Dongguan Haixinsha Hazardous Waste Disposal Project, China's first hazardous waste disposal project using rotary kiln incineration and plasma co-disposal process. The Project effectively solved the predicament of lacking safe landfill site for industrial hazardous waste disposal, and demonstrated the significance to promote transformation and upgrading of the hazardous waste market. By the end of 2021, CITIC Environment has laid out 7 high-quality hazardous waste disposal projects in Xinjiang, Shandong, Hainan, Jiangsu and other regions, with a designed annual treatment capacity of over 900,000 tons.

Sanfeng Covanta Incinerator Assembly Base

Circular economy makes energy management intelligent and efficient

CITIC Environment takes government as the lead and enterprise as the main body, building and operating circular economy industrial park. The industrial park and environmental protection facilities are planned and built simultaneously, which changes the value chain of environmental protection enterprises. By making pillar industries of the local economy green and alive, CITIC Environment strives to achieve “economy thrive and alive, environment green and healthy.”

A new model of circular economy industry governance. CITIC Environment is actively being a pioneer in promoting sustainable circular economy, and vigorously develop the “six-in-one” circular economy governance model of industrial production, wastewater treatment, water reuse, centralized water suppling, cogeneration and solid waste disposal. CITIC Environment provides “Environmental Intelligent Housekeeper” services of reducing pollution and carbon emission to energy and pollution intense industries for intensive development and industrial upgrading. At present, CITIC Environment has successfully carried out practices in Guangdong, Hebei, Hunan, and Henan. Among them, Chaonan Textile Printing and Dyeing Integrated Environmental Treatment Center provides housekeeping and environmental treatment services for 102 printing and dyeing enterprises. It not only helps the Center to achieve economic output of over 7 billion yuan, but also provides a replicable and extendable example for nation-wide third party circular economy industrial park solution providers. 

Intelligent management makes energy efficiency higher. CITIC Environment strives to minimize the environmental impacts while work on environmental management. Its subsidiary CITIC Energy Conservation Technology focuses on intelligent control system renovation, waste heat and pressure utilization, waste gas recovery, as well as civil and municipal energy conservation projects. The above services are carried out via energy management contract (EMC) and project build and transfer (BT) modes. In 2021, the Company helped saving 92.11 million cubic meters of fuel and reducing 17,053 tons of carbon dioxide emissions for owners, and the total value of fossil energy saved is about 16.23 million yuan.  

Ministry of Ecology and Environment Selected Case for Synergizing the Reduction of Pollution and Carbon Emissions: Chaonan Textile Printing and Dyeing Integrated Environmental Treatment Center Project

Focusing closely on China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, CITIC Environment has been adhering to putting scientific and technological innovation as its core strategy, continuously increasing investment in R&D, and activating relevant market elements with more effective mechanisms to build a multi-dimensional, multi-level and open scientific and technological innovation ecosphere. CITIC Environment will relentlessly pursue independent and innovative development to upgrade its core technology. The Company will make every effort to build a technological system of a green, low-carbon wastewater recycling and reclaiming industry chain, deeply promote the application of independent technology for hazardous and solid wastes treatment and utilization, and actively realize the intensive management of the circular economy industrial park, and innovatively deliver intelligent energy management solutions. CITIC Environment is determined to become a nationally and internationally leading environment and low-carbon investment operator, and contribute CITIC's intelligence in building a new green and harmonious future.