Xu Yingming, Director of the Green Economy and Trade Center of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce: Strengthen cooperation and release the emission reduction potential of the new energy vehicle industry

China actively supports the optimization of international cooperation between new energy vehicles and their supply chain enterprises, promotes the healthy development of new energy vehicle trade cooperation, and maintains the stable and smooth operation of the global supply chain of related industries

At present, the global challenge of climate change is severe, the impact on the ecological environment and human economic activities is rising, and there is still a gap between the global emission reduction status and the goals and requirements of the Paris Agreement. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has released its Global Resource Outlook 2024 report, which calls for an accelerated global transition to sustainable resource use models.

The development of the new energy vehicle industry is of great significance to reducing carbon emissions in the transportation sector. The fuel consumption of hybrid vehicles is about 1/3 lower than that of traditional fuel vehicles, and pure electric vehicles can achieve zero emissions of carbon dioxide or pollutants. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) pointed out in its Sixth Assessment Report that new energy vehicles offer the greatest low-carbon potential for the land transport sector. In the context of accelerating the global low-carbon transition, the new energy vehicle market has great growth potential. The World Resources Institute (WRI) pointed out in its State of Climate Action 2023 report that the development of new energy vehicles is almost the only satisfactory category of global climate change action in 2023. In the future, if most of the electricity in the production process of new energy vehicles comes from renewable energy, its contribution to emission reduction and the response to climate change will be more obvious.

As a major manufacturer and exporter of new energy vehicles, China has continuously strengthened cooperation in the global industrial chain to promote greater emission reduction potential of the new energy vehicle industry. The industrial chain of new energy vehicles is long and the technology is complex, and the release of industrial development and emission reduction potential requires the cooperation of the global industrial chain. After continuous development, China's new energy vehicle industry has made great progress in technology. While increasing vehicle exports, many Chinese companies have strengthened the layout of overseas industrial chains to promote the development of the local new energy vehicle industry. BYD will build its first overseas passenger car plant in Thailand and a battery materials processing plant in Brazil. Yutong has realized local assembly and technical cooperation of bus parts in many countries, and improved the local industrialization level. Nezha Automobile's Indonesian plant officially put into production and rolled off the assembly line. Chinese battery companies such as CATL, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, and Honeycomb Energy have successively set up factories in Europe and put them into production. China actively supports the optimization of international cooperation between new energy vehicles and their supply chain enterprises, promotes the healthy development of new energy vehicle trade cooperation, and maintains the stable and smooth operation of the global supply chain of related industries.

Despite the rapid development of the global new energy vehicle industry, it still faces challenges such as rising trade protectionism, and further international cooperation needs to be further strengthened to fully unleash the potential of emission reduction. The international community should actively participate in the formulation of international green standards and promote the exchange and sharing of information on green standards, inspection and testing, and evaluation methods. All countries should guide the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to stabilize the supply of raw materials and cooperate in production, supply and marketing, and jointly maintain the stability of the global industrial and supply chains. China will continue to work with all parties to promote the high-quality development of the new energy vehicle industry from the perspective of improving the well-being of all mankind, continuously improve the level of international cooperation, and make greater contributions to building a clean and beautiful world.

(Xu Yingming, the author is the director of the Green Economic and Trade Center of the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute)