While most textile companies still treat 'dual carbon' as a slogan, a joint notice from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the State Administration for Market Regulation has quietly extended the yardstick of green transition from 'energy efficiency' to 'carbon efficiency'. The 2026 recommendation work for energy and carbon efficiency leaders has officially started, marking the first time carbon efficiency is separately listed. Although the first batch of carbon efficiency pilots covers only five industries such as electrolytic aluminum and cement clinker, textile-related sub-sectors including cotton, chemical fiber and blended woven fabrics, knitted fabrics, yarns, viscose staple fiber, and polyester have all been included in the 43 energy efficiency leader industries. This means that green competition in the textile industry is no longer conceptual but is about to enter a new stage of quantification, comparability, and public disclosure.
Policy Signal: Carbon and Energy Efficiency Split, Green Threshold Raised
The most noteworthy change in this notice is the separation of carbon efficiency leaders from energy efficiency leaders. Energy efficiency benchmarks 'energy consumption per unit product', while carbon efficiency benchmarks 'carbon dioxide emissions per unit product'. The accounting logic is completely different. Carbon efficiency requires compliance with national or group standards for product carbon footprint accounting rules, defining accounting boundaries, emission factors, and data allocation principles. This is a new capability requirement for textile enterprises. Although the first batch of carbon efficiency industries does not directly include textile categories, the policy path is clear: the carbon efficiency leader system will inevitably expand from high energy-consuming industries to the entire industrial sector. As a sector with non-negligible energy consumption and carbon emissions, textiles will be included sooner or later.
For enterprises, this means that the dimension of green compliance assessment is shifting from a single energy consumption track to a dual track of energy consumption and carbon emissions. In the past, textile companies could gain an advantage in energy efficiency benchmarking by reducing unit energy consumption. In the future, even if energy consumption meets standards, they may still fail in carbon efficiency selection if their carbon emission intensity is high. This dual constraint of 'energy efficiency + carbon efficiency' will force companies to re-examine their energy structure, raw material sources, and process routes.
Industrial Impact: Textile Sub-sectors Fully Covered, Application Threshold Not Low
The energy efficiency leader recommendation scope covers multiple links of the textile industry chain, from cotton, chemical fiber and blended woven fabrics to knitted fabrics, yarns, viscose staple fiber, and polyester, almost encompassing major fabric and fiber categories. However, the application threshold is not low: annual energy consumption must exceed 10,000 tons of standard coal, or annual carbon dioxide emissions must exceed 26,000 tons of CO2 equivalent; unit product energy efficiency must reach national standard level 1 or benchmark level; and the green electricity consumption ratio must not be lower than the regional renewable energy consumption responsibility weight for 2025. These hard indicators will exclude many small and medium-sized textile enterprises.
From an industrial cluster perspective, large enterprises with scale advantages and energy management foundations in clusters like Keqiao, Shengze, and Nantong are more likely to be shortlisted. Notably, the notice requires applicant enterprises to establish energy management systems and measurement management systems, and to install online energy consumption monitoring systems. This means that even if a company's current energy consumption indicators are excellent, it cannot pass the preliminary review if its management systems and monitoring systems are incomplete. For buyers, the leader list will become an important reference for evaluating suppliers' green compliance capabilities, and future orders may tilt toward listed companies.
Another key signal is that the number of energy and carbon efficiency leaders per industry is原则上 no more than five. Scarcity determines the value of the list and implies fierce competition. Among 43 textile sub-sectors, at most five per sector means only a handful of companies nationwide can be listed. This is not just an honor but a 'passport' for future participation in green procurement in international supply chains.
Practical Recommendations: Early Layout of Carbon Footprint Accounting and Green Power Procurement
For textile companies that have not yet acted, now is the window period. Although carbon efficiency leaders do not yet cover textiles, national and group standards for carbon footprint accounting rules are being formulated. Companies should establish product carbon footprint accounting capabilities as early as possible to avoid last-minute panic when policies land. Meanwhile, green electricity consumption ratio has become a hard condition. Companies need to connect with local power trading centers or power sales companies to lock in green power procurement channels and ensure compliance by the 2026 application.
For Buyers - Include the energy and carbon efficiency leader list in supplier admission assessment, prioritizing fabrics and yarns from listed companies. - Require suppliers to provide product carbon footprint accounting reports to obtain supply chain carbon emission data in advance and respond to downstream brand customers' carbon disclosure requirements. - Monitor policy trends and add green compliance clauses in procurement contracts to avoid supply chain interruption risks caused by suppliers' carbon emission non-compliance in the future.
For Foreign Trade Enterprises - Use the leader application as an opportunity to improve energy metering and online monitoring systems, enhance factory digital management, and meet international customer audit requirements. - Engage in green power trading markets to increase green power usage ratio and reduce product carbon footprint, preparing for export to regions covered by carbon tariffs like the EU's CBAM. - Track the timeline for extending carbon efficiency leaders to the textile industry, reserve carbon footprint accounting talent or cooperate with third-party agencies in advance to ensure application capability when policies land.
The green race in the textile industry has started. This time, the referee's stopwatch is no longer a single energy consumption indicator but a bidirectional scale of energy consumption and carbon emissions. Regardless of size, companies should reassess their starting line.