The "chariot" of pollution control in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is advancing forcefully, and Hebei, at the center of the storm, has begun to spend heavily and step up actions. A reporter from China Securities Journal learned from the "2014 Langfang International Trade Fair Hebei Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Industry Matchmaking Conference" held on May 18 that from this year to the end of 2017, Hebei Province will invest 423.7 billion yuan to control pollution and promote the development of the energy conservation and environmental protection industry. Among this, the funds for air pollution prevention and control in key industries will reach more than 90 billion yuan. This is also the first time Hebei Province has announced its energy conservation and environmental protection investment plan for the next five years.
　　Analysis points out that previously, Hebei Province used policy-mandated elimination of outdated production capacity as the main lever for environmental governance, and the market-driven effect was "loud thunder but little rain." The announcement of the hundreds of billions of yuan energy conservation and environmental protection investment plan this time will bring new investment opportunities to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei pollution control market. Industry insiders say that listed companies such as Xianhe Environmental Protection, Longjing Environmental Protection, and Jiguang Technology have already dived deep into it and are expected to be the first to share in the hundreds of billions of yuan market "cake."
　　Hebei's Strong Pollution Control
　　Since the national release of the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan "National Ten Measures" in September last year, and the implementation rules of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas air pollution prevention and control action plan, all localities have accelerated policy implementation. As one of the provinces with the most severe air pollution prevention and control situation, Hebei had previously introduced a local version of the action plan, but the industry generally pointed out that its main lever was the shutdown and elimination of outdated production capacity in key industries, while measures for industrial production capacity that urgently needed environmental upgrading and transformation were relatively weak.
　　"Although the policy calls are high, because it has not deeply touched the environmental governance of the larger existing industrial production capacity, and the policy advancement process encountered the downturn of most 'two high' industries, it has left the outside world with the impression of 'loud policy thunder, little market rain,'" said a securities researcher in the environmental protection industry to China Securities Journal. The largest battlefield for haze control and ecological improvement in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is Hebei, especially its massive industrial pollution control.
　　At the above industry matchmaking conference, Lv Zhuqing, deputy director of the Hebei Provincial Environmental Protection Department, said that in 2013, the number of haze days in Hebei Province was one day less than the national average, and PM2.5 concentration decreased by 8.6% year-on-year, achieving certain results in promoting air pollution prevention and control.
　　In this regard, an expert from Hebei University of Science and Technology told reporters that since last year, Hebei's air control campaign targeting the four key industries of steel, power, cement, and flat glass (1154, -32.00, -2.70%) has been effective, but the measure of eliminating outdated production capacity may not be a long-term solution due to gradually narrowing space and constraints involving employment. In contrast, environmental governance of existing pollution sources will be more sustainable.
　　In November last year, Hebei Province issued ten measures to promote the development of the energy conservation and environmental protection industry, planning to cultivate 30 key energy conservation and environmental protection enterprises and 3 national-level urban mineral demonstration bases by 2017, accompanied by a series of tax and fee preferential policies. The province's environmental governance began to explore industrialized development.
　　A person from the Hebei Environmental Protection Industry Association said at the meeting that since September last year, Hebei has held three energy conservation and environmental protection industry matchmaking conferences, which have become the platform support for the industrialized development of pollution control in Hebei, and the 30 key enterprises have also become the vanguard in releasing technology cooperation intentions at the matchmaking conferences.
　　In the currently most urgent field of air pollution control, according to the action plan formulated by Hebei Province, by 2015, all newly built and renovated coal-fired units and steel sintering machines in the province will complete desulfurization treatment, coal-fired power plants and cement plants will complete denitrification treatment, coal-fired power plants, cement, steel and other industries will complete dust removal upgrading and transformation treatment, and the petrochemical industry will complete comprehensive treatment of organic waste gas.
　　"Air Control" Investment Exceeds 90 Billion Yuan
　　To achieve the results of pollution control, real money investment is indispensable. In this regard, Beijing and Tianjin, which are also in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei haze disaster area, successively announced their air pollution prevention and control funding last year, while Hebei's actions were relatively slow.
　　At the matchmaking conference on May 18, Song Limin, deputy director of the Hebei Provincial Development and Reform Commission, said that by 2017, the investment scale for implementing environmental governance in various fields and promoting the development of the energy conservation and environmental protection industry in Hebei Province will reach 423.7 billion yuan, of which government financial funds are planned to invest 61.6 billion yuan. This is also the first time Hebei Province has released its five-year energy conservation and environmental protection investment plan.
　　In terms of air pollution control, according to Song Limin, Hebei Province's investment in implementing environmental governance upgrading and transformation for steel, power, cement, and flat glass will reach more than 90 billion yuan. The main direction of funds will be equipment and technologies such as desulfurization and denitrification, large bag filters, waste pressure and waste heat power generation, as well as high-performance desulfurizers and solid waste treatment curing agents, which are urgently needed in Hebei Province and difficult to develop independently in the short term. "For these mature products, we will adopt a strategy of exchanging market access for enterprise landing, introducing well-known domestic and foreign enterprises to set up factories in our province, and forming new growth points for the energy conservation and environmental protection industry."
　　It is understood that since last year, of the 10 billion yuan annual special fund for air pollution prevention and control established by the central government, nearly 50% has been allocated to Hebei, which is a shot in the arm for Hebei's pollution control. Nevertheless, to leverage hundreds of billions of yuan in the energy conservation and environmental protection industry, it is still necessary for the government and enterprises to work together to broaden financing channels.
　　In this regard, Song Limin said that in the blueprint for the energy conservation and environmental protection industry currently outlined by Hebei Province, multiple designs have been made for financing channels. In addition to promoting enterprise listing and financing, the Hebei provincial government will rely on the punitive electricity fees collected, entrust the provincial construction investment company as the shareholder, and initiate the establishment of a provincial-level energy conservation and environmental protection industry equity investment fund, mainly used to support the construction of key energy conservation and environmental protection enterprises, parks, and bases. In addition, Hebei will also promote franchise rights, future income rights, toll collection rights, and emission rights pledge loans, comprehensively use financing tools such as acceptance, factoring, and supply chain, support qualified energy conservation and environmental protection enterprises in issuing corporate bonds, small and medium-sized enterprise collective bonds, short-term financing bonds, medium-term notes, etc., and enhance direct financing capabilities.
　　"In terms of ensuring policy-based funding input, Hebei Province will also vigorously strive for support from relevant national special funds, and provincial strategic emerging industry transformation funds, as well as small and medium-sized enterprise technological innovation funds, will also be prioritized for the energy conservation and environmental protection industry," said Song Limin.
　　Multiple Companies Ready to Go
　　"Hebei will take the determination it once had in developing the steel industry to develop the energy conservation and environmental protection industry," Song Limin's remark immediately drew cheers from the enterprises attending the conference.
　　The head of an environmental protection company from Beijing attending the conference told reporters that starting in the second half of last year, he contacted many steel mills in counties and cities in Hebei, hoping to promote the high-efficiency bag filters produced by his factory, but was rejected many times, and when he approached the government authorities, he was told they were "willing but unable." "The government's sincerity and determination mean confidence to us."
　　Perhaps it is precisely seeing the determination of Hebei Province to strongly control pollution that the industry matchmaking conference on May 18 attracted the participation of more than 80 energy conservation and environmental protection companies from home and abroad, including environmental giants such as France's Veolia and the US's Dow Chemical, and of course, A-share listed companies.
　　As an environmental monitoring equipment company that has grown in Hebei in the past two years, Xianhe Environmental Protection won consecutive bids for county-level ambient air monitoring network construction projects in the second half of last year, with order amounts of nearly 100 million yuan. The company's relevant person in charge said it will make full use of the energy conservation and environmental protection industry matchmaking conference platform to consolidate its advantageous position in Hebei's environmental monitoring market.
　　In addition, as a leader in the domestic steel dust removal industry, Longjing Environmental Protection has been cooperating with the Hebei government and enterprises on projects since 2010. With the large-scale opening of the desulfurization, denitrification, and dust removal market in Hebei's steel industry, the company's order volume in the Hebei market is expected to grow.
　　In addition to air pollution prevention and control, according to the introduction of the Hebei Provincial Environmental Protection Department, action plans for water pollution prevention and soil pollution prevention will be introduced successively this year, and the level of pollution control in Hebei Province will continue to broaden, and the energy conservation and environmental protection industry market will also continue to expand. Not long ago, Hebei Province announced that it will invest more than 7 billion yuan this year to control the groundwater funnel area, which will bring market opportunities to water treatment leaders such as OriginWater and Sound Environment, which have location advantages.