What do you think of when it comes to steel production, high energy consumption or high emissions? Do you think of images of billowing smoke and harsh working environments?

To serve China's dual carbon goals, "greening the process" has become a crucial issue facing the high-quality development of the steel industry.

Hidden within Xingcheng Special Steel Works in Jiangyin, Wuxi, is an area of nearly 30,000 square meters that serves as a miniature zoo. Fifteen species of over 260 animals such as geese, swans, mandarin ducks, sika deer and red-crowned cranes create a vibrant atmosphere throughout.

"Establishing a habitat for animals within a steel plant, allowing them to reproduce and grow healthily, enables people to experience heartwarming scenes of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, expressing our firm determination for green development as a company," said a staff member of the enterprise.

Xingcheng Special Steel Work in recent years has developed a "smart brain", creating an automated precise furnace burning data model, reducing the burning of 100 million cubic meters of gas annually.

With an investment of nearly 3 billion yuan ($414.1 million) in implementing a series of environmental protection projects, it has constructed the first batch of "green factories" recognized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the world's first "lighthouse factory" in the special steel industry.