This year, our country has successively introduced policies and measures such as the "Action Plan for Promoting Large-scale Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Exchange for the Old" and "Several Measures to Strengthen Support for Large-scale Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Exchange for the Old", which have promoted the continuous increase in the proportion of advanced production capacity, more high-quality durable consumer goods entering residents' lives, and the recycling of waste resources, significantly improving the quality and level of the national economic cycle.
The relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission introduced that they will further make full use of various policies and funds such as the "two new" and the ultra-long-term special treasury bonds to allow policy dividends to benefit a wider range of consumers and business entities, while providing stronger momentum for promoting sustained and healthy economic development.
Playing a good combination of policies
Two months after the policy was released, the term "strengthening" has not only become a policy highlight of the "two new" work but also reflects the effectiveness of the "two new" work in all aspects.
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To further play a good combination of policies, strengthen the linkage between the central and local governments, and improve supporting details, relevant departments have issued notices for equipment renewal projects, implementation details for equipment renewal in eight fields such as industrial equipment, energy equipment, and environmental infrastructure, and implementation details for consumer goods exchange for the old in four fields such as automobiles, home appliances, electric bicycles, and home decoration kitchen and bathroom, and all "two new" related supporting measures have been issued and implemented.
From the local level, 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and five single-plan cities and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps have all issued implementation plans to strengthen support for the "two new", and more than 140 types of local supporting implementation details have been issued.
Strengthening financial support, 300 billion yuan of ultra-long-term special treasury bond funds have been fully issued. In terms of equipment renewal, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with relevant departments, has optimized the support method according to the principle of "local review and national review", simplified the approval process, and selected more than 4,600 equipment renewal projects that meet the conditions. 150 billion yuan of treasury bond funds in the field of equipment renewal have been arranged to the project in two batches according to relevant regulations and procedures.
In terms of consumer goods exchange for the old, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with the Ministry of Finance, comprehensively considers factors such as the permanent population of each region, regional gross domestic product, and the ownership of automobiles and home appliances, to reasonably determine the scale of financial support. 150 billion yuan of treasury bond funds in the field of consumer goods exchange for the old have been fully issued to localities at the beginning of August.
"It can be said that the policy system using ultra-long-term special treasury bond funds to strengthen support for the 'two new' has been fully constructed, laying a solid foundation for this year and future work," said Zhao Chenxin, member of the Party Group and Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission.
The "two new" work connects the supply and demand ends, benefiting both enterprises and the public. The continuous advancement of equipment renewal policies has effectively mobilized the enthusiasm of business entities to update various types of equipment such as production, energy, and elevators. In the first eight months, the investment in equipment, tools, and instruments increased by 16.8%, which is 13.4 percentage points higher than the growth rate of total fixed asset investment, and the contribution rate to the total investment growth reached 64.2%, which is 3.5 percentage points higher than the first seven months.Granting greater autonomy to localities while adhering to the overall requirements of the "two new" initiatives, the creativity of local areas is also fully unleashed. "The effectiveness of policies is a key focus in the management of budgetary funds," said Zhao Changsheng, Deputy Director of the Economic Construction Department of the Ministry of Finance. Provincial financial departments actively cooperate, increase investment, stimulate consumer potential, and meet the consumption needs of the people. For instance, Zhejiang Province has introduced new policies to support the consumption of home适老化改造, providing tiered subsidies of 50% and 60% for elderly households purchasing eligible items and materials, with a maximum subsidy amount reaching 20,000 yuan.

The organic integration of greening and digitalization
The "two new" initiatives are beneficial for both the present and the long term, representing an important measure in promoting high-quality development. In today's world, the transformation and development of greening and digitalization are inevitable trends, containing enormous potential for growth; the "two new" initiatives, led by improving standards in technology, energy consumption, and emissions, represent an organic combination of greening and digitalization, helping to convert potential into tangible growth.
China is a major holder of durable consumer goods. By promoting the energy efficiency of existing products through trade-ins, it will help reduce China's overall energy consumption and carbon emission intensity. The policy to vigorously support the "two new" initiatives has shown effectiveness. In August, China's new energy vehicle retail sales reached 1.027 million units, a significant increase of 17% month-on-month, with the new energy vehicle penetration rate breaking through 50% for two consecutive months. It is expected that 2 million passenger cars meeting low-emission standards will be phased out throughout the year.
The implementation of policies to vigorously support the "two new" initiatives has expanded the scope of support for equipment updates and recycling in China's industry, environmental infrastructure, transportation, and other fields to include equipment updates in energy, electricity, and old elevators, as well as energy-saving and carbon reduction transformations in key industries. By expanding the scope of equipment updates in related fields, it promotes technological updates, digital empowerment, and green and low-carbon development, thereby driving industrial upgrading and development, and continuously cultivating new momentum.
"The 'two new' initiatives must focus on the macro perspective and start with the micro approach," Zhao Chenxin analyzed. From a micro perspective, the "two new" policies are beneficial for effectively improving the production and living conditions of businesses and the public; from a macro perspective, the policies help expand domestic demand and are conducive to achieving the "dual carbon" goals and a comprehensive green transformation of the economy and society.
Implementing the standard improvement action is an important task within the "two new" policies. Previously, the "Action Plan for Leading the Trade-in of Equipment and Consumer Goods with Standard Improvement," formulated by the State Administration for Market Regulation, the National Development and Reform Commission, and six other departments, proposed to formulate and revise 294 key national standards in the next two years. Currently, based on the full initiation, 70 key national standards have been formulated and revised, and have been released to the public, covering various fields such as energy consumption and efficiency, pollutant emissions, and civilian drones.
Strengthening the implementation and refinement
Since the implementation of the "two new" initiatives, the overall progress of the work has been in line with expectations. "The basic work has been fully completed, and the results have gradually emerged. The path is very clear, and the next step is to further strengthen the implementation," said Zhao Chenxin.
In response to the financing needs of small and medium-sized enterprises in equipment updates, Peng Lifeng, Director of the Credit Market Department of the People's Bank of China, introduced that in the next step, the People's Bank of China will join forces with the Development and Reform Commission and other departments to further increase the guidance and supervision of banking institutions and local governments, include more projects of private enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises, and agricultural entities in the candidate list, and increase the support for financing guarantees and risk compensation, strongly supporting key field technological transformations and equipment update projects.Updating and replacing outdated products and equipment requires addressing potential environmental pollution and resource waste through recycling and reuse. To this end, China will accelerate the construction of a waste recycling system that covers all fields and links, and continuously smooth the resource recycling chain. We will speed up the development of the "replacement + recycling" logistics system and new models, further improve the recycling network for used products and equipment; support enterprises in building a reverse logistics system for recycling used products, and promote the efficient use of retired wind power equipment, photovoltaic equipment, and power batteries; optimize the management of second-hand car transactions and registration, improve relevant resource import standards and policies, and build an international recycling system.
At the same time, we must fully leverage the role of the inter-ministerial joint meeting system for the "two new" sectors, urge the implementation of key tasks, and propose practical and effective measures in a timely manner for various blockages and bottlenecks. In addition, the National Development and Reform Commission has formulated special long-term national debt support "two new" fund management methods, clarifying the full chain management regulations to ensure that funds are truly used for "two new" work.