On October 14th, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Management Measures for Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction Central Budget Investment Special Projects" (hereinafter referred to as the "Management Measures"), aiming to strengthen and standardize the management of energy conservation and carbon reduction central budget investment, promote high-quality project construction, and improve the efficiency of fund utilization. According to the Management Measures, projects supported by central budget investment are aimed at promoting the implementation and effectiveness of "soft construction", establishing and improving long-term mechanisms to solve practical problems and promote green, low-carbon and circular development. Chen Xiaohua, Executive Director of the Education and Science Technology Research Institute of the China Mobile Communications Federation and Director of the Blockchain and Data Element Special Committee, stated in an interview with reporters that the core of "soft construction" lies in optimizing institutional supply, improving project management processes, strengthening performance monitoring and other institutional arrangements to ensure that capital investment can be effectively transformed into sustained emission reduction benefits, avoiding "rebuilding light management", and thus forming an endogenous driving force for promoting green, low-carbon and circular development. The "Management Measures" emphasize the effective implementation of "software construction", reflecting a profound shift from simply focusing on project hardware investment to building long-term mechanisms. Overall, the released 'Management Measures' aim to enhance the traceability and transparency of policy implementation, and accumulate replicable and sustainable management experience for green and low-carbon investment. The Management Measures stipulate that the National Development and Reform Commission will coordinate and support the construction of energy conservation and carbon reduction projects in various regions based on the nature and characteristics of various projects, the level of economic and social development in the region, and the completion of regional energy conservation and carbon reduction goals. It will moderately tilt towards regions with outstanding carbon peak, carbon neutrality, energy conservation, and development of circular economy, as well as national ecological civilization pilot zones. From the perspective of support scope, the "Management Measures" support projects in key industries such as energy conservation and carbon reduction, clean substitution of coal consumption, circular economy to assist in carbon reduction, low-carbon zero carbon negative carbon demonstration, and basic capacity building for carbon peak and carbon neutrality. The directions specified in the Management Measures are based on the reality and strategic considerations of China's carbon emission structure. Key industries such as electricity and steel are the main sources of carbon emissions, and their energy conservation and carbon reduction are crucial for achieving the 'dual carbon' goal. The circular economy reduces emissions from the source through efficient resource utilization, and the clean substitution of coal directly affects the optimization of energy structure. The low-carbon, zero carbon, and negative carbon demonstration projects focus on breakthroughs in cutting-edge technologies and the cultivation of future competitiveness. ”In Chen Xiaohua's view, these directions together constitute the strategic layout of current emission reduction efforts and long-term deep decarbonization. In key industries such as electricity, steel, non-ferrous metals, building materials, petrochemicals, chemicals, and machinery, the "Management Measures" not only support energy-saving and carbon reduction projects, but also specifically mention "supporting the overall deployment and large-scale implementation of energy-saving and carbon reduction projects in industrial parks and industrial clusters. Supporting the energy-saving and carbon reduction transformation of infrastructure such as heating and computing power". Chen Xiaohua believes that supporting the energy-saving and carbon reduction transformation of computing infrastructure is necessary and forward-looking. With the rapid development of the digital economy, the energy consumption of data centers continues to increase, and improving their energy efficiency is crucial. The carbon reduction transformation in this field will directly promote the application of green technologies such as liquid cooling and AI intelligent scheduling, and promote the consumption of green electricity, thereby consolidating the green foundation of the digital industry and enhancing the environmental compliance and core competitiveness of China's digital economy in the international market. (New Society)