Zhejiang province will accelerate the construction of zero-carbon and nearly-zero-carbon factories, according to the province's department of economy and information technology.

The department issued a set of guidelines on the construction and evaluation of zero-carbon and nearly-zero-carbon factories in Zhejiang province on Dec 4.

According to the guidelines, zero-carbon and nearly-zero-carbon factories shall, on the premise of ensuring the function and quality of products and the health and safety of workers, use low-carbon or carbon-negative raw materials, technologies and equipment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

During production, relevant factories should reduce the consumption of raw and auxiliary materials and energy and calculate or verify the carbon footprint of products, making improvements accordingly.

In energy use, these factories should reduce the input of non-renewable energy on the premise of guaranteeing safety and quality and increase the utilization rate of renewable energy.

The guidelines make it clear that information management systems for energy and carbon emissions should be established to achieve the accurate monitoring, counting and management of energy.

The online monitoring system for energy should collect the energy data of key energy-consumption units, major secondary energy-consumption units and major energy-consumption equipment in real time and automatically carry out statistical analysis, energy efficiency analysis and early warnings for energy-use, according to the guidelines.