Relevant experts indicate that water-based paint is currently the VOCs source control measure that can be actively promoted. Oil-based paints have a VOCs content of 50%~70%, while water-based paints have a low VOCs content, capable of reducing VOCs from the raw material end, and the effectiveness of raw material changes is relatively high. VOCs control focuses on key regions and industries, involving key sectors such as petrochemicals, organic chemicals, surface coating, and packaging printing. Numerous small, scattered, and polluting enterprises exist in the paint and ink industries, making environmental compliance a matter of survival for these businesses; they must find water-based products with low (or zero) VOCs content to replace raw materials. Waterborne polyurethane can provide downstream industries with water-based products with low (or zero) VOCs content. Han Baole, vice secretary-general of the China Polyurethane Industry Association, once revealed that waterborne polyurethane, using water as a solvent, has advantages such as being pollution-free, safe and reliable, having excellent mechanical properties, good compatibility, and being easy to modify. It can be widely used in coatings, adhesives, fabric coatings and finishing agents, leather coatings, paper surface treatment agents, fiber surface treatment agents, etc. It is a safe, environmentally friendly, green, high-performance polymer material. Producing 1 ton of waterborne polyurethane dispersion can replace solvent-based polyurethane, reducing 0.7 tons of organic solvent volatilization into the atmosphere. Its development is valued by governments worldwide. Is the transition to water-based smooth? Currently, the implementation of "oil-to-water" is not ideal. Liao, president of the Hunan Provincial Coatings Industry Association, introduced that the biggest bottleneck in the current implementation of "oil-to-water" lies in the limitations of water-based paint technology, especially in the fields of water-based industrial paints and anti-corrosion paints. Applying water-based paint indoors does not significantly affect the coating effect, but if applied outdoors and exposed to sun and rain, especially in areas with severe environmental pollution, the performance of water-based paint is not ideal. For example, it does not meet the requirements in terms of film formation, hardness, adhesion, gloss, and stability. The global water-based rate is not very high; although many large enterprises have introduced water-based paint projects, they still sell oil-based paints. Dr. Cui Yanjun, assistant director of the Shanghai Huafeng Materials Science and Technology Research Institute, told reporters that oil-based materials have been used for more than 30 years, while water-based materials have only been developed for more than a decade, and the supporting facilities are not yet mature. For synthetic leather enterprises, the cost of switching to water-based will increase by 3%, which is not an easy choice for an industry with already thin profit margins. In addition, switching to water-based also faces problems such as adjustments to production processes and reduced production efficiency. Lü Guohui, secretary-general of the China Polyurethane Industry Association, pointed out that China has become the largest producer and consumer of polyurethane and is expected to become the largest consumption base. However, the industry's innovation capacity is insufficient, a large amount of technology is in the follower stage, the industrial structure is not entirely reasonable, the concentration is relatively low, there is serious homogeneity, there is a surplus of low-end products, and there is a shortage of high-end products. He pointed out that the application of polyurethane products should shift from demand consumption to quality consumption, which is verified in the field of waterborne polyurethane. After 2015, the innovation and application of waterborne polyurethane have entered multiple fields and are currently in a period of rapid development. Zhang Haoming, director of the Waterborne Materials Professional Committee of the China Polyurethane Industry Association and chairman of Oska Materials Technology Co., Ltd., expressed the hope that society will pay attention to the water-based conversion of polyurethane materials and guide waterborne polyurethane to become a safe, environmentally friendly, and competitive industry. Professor Fan Hong from the College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, pointed out that the market share of water-based coatings in countries such as Europe and the United States is above 60%, while in China it is less than 20%. The performance of water-based coating products internationally has been significantly improved, and some have approached or exceeded solvent-based products. In 2016, the global waterborne polyurethane market exceeded US$42 billion, but the domestic technological development level still needs further improvement.