"If the new standards were strictly followed, almost all steel companies in China would not meet them." All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce metallurgical chamber of Commerce, Shagang Group chairman of the board of directors Shen Wenrong told reporters.

On January 1, 2015, a new environmental law came into force, increasing penalties for illegal emissions, such as on a daily basis.

Starting from the same day, the steel industry will be required to fully implement a series of eight steel industry-related pollutant emission standards released by the Ministry of Environmental Protection in 2012.

These standards cover the whole process of steel production and significantly increase emission limits on the basis of the old standards, with stricter special emission limits for environmentally sensitive areas.

Zhao Xizi, former honorary president of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce's Metallurgical Chamber, told reporters that new environmental pressure could lead to a "quick death" for some steel mills.

Ji Gang, head of the energy and environmental protection department of Taiyuan Iron and Steel Group, told reporters that to meet the new standards, the operating cost of environmental protection will rise to 200 yuan per tonne of steel. At present, most small and medium-sized steel enterprises' operating cost of environmental protection is only 30 ~ 40 yuan per ton of steel, and enterprises that do a little better are only about 100 yuan.

Technology is also a barrier to entry. For example, the new standards set high requirements for special emission limits of nitrogen oxides from coke oven chimneys, but there is no readily available technical means to achieve them in the domestic and foreign markets at present.

The practicality of some green technologies has also been questioned. For example, the use of activated carbon technology can be very good to achieve the steel plant sintering machine desulfurization and denitrification, but such a set of technical equipment needs about 400 million yuan, a year of operating costs also need 200 million yuan, and the sintering machine itself is only 200 million yuan.

According to Ji gang, tiSCO's environmental operating expenses have reached the highest level in the industry at 180 yuan per ton, but in April 2015, tiSCO received its first daily fine of 1.65 million yuan from the Taiyuan Environmental Protection Bureau.

Some industry participants and experts surveyed believe that environmental charges, such as emissions, should be used in part to reward companies for doing a good job in environmental protection. But steel companies currently enjoy few such incentives. For example, the state has subsidies for desulfurization and denitration of power plants, but there is no related subsidies for desulfurization and denitration of steel enterprises.

"We need top-level design too much." Shen wenrong said the government should support enterprises' environmental protection efforts from a financial and tax perspective. For example, VAT will be cut from 17 percent to 12 percent, or income tax from 25 percent to 15 percent, for companies that are actively green.

The technical difficulties are more complex. Cheng Jijun, director of the Energy conservation and Environmental Protection Center of the Planning and Research Institute of the Metallurgical Industry, told reporters that the ministry of Environmental Protection in 2012 on the steel industry's new emissions standards, research funding is relatively short, although the industry has done many discussions, but many aspects have not formed a basic consensus. "The introduction is relatively hasty", resulting in some standards out of practice.

He thinks, now should remedy, on the basis of the new standard, with financial funds integration of domestic research force, the introduction of a catalogue of environmental protection technology guidance, a comprehensive understanding of steel enterprises to meet the new environmental standards each need to use what kind of technical problems, and supplemented by the corresponding credit and other support means.

In addition to the above-mentioned problems, in the view of Chi Jingdong, vice chairman of the China Iron and Steel Association, the steel industry's environmental top-level design is reflected in a broader aspect.

Hebei province, for example, is densely populated with steel mills that produce 220 million tons of steel a year, most of which are transported by road. In the early years, the government did not fully consider the environmental pressure in the layout of the steel industry and supporting transportation modes, and now it needs to be re-optimized.