Xu Hailiang, Vice President of TÜV Nande Smart Energy: Green attributes will be a major feature that highlights the advantages and competitiveness of the new three brands

According to the "Implementation Plan on Establishing a Carbon Footprint Management System"(hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, some key industries first issued carbon footprint accounting rules and standards for key products, including lithium batteries, new energy vehicles, and photovoltaics (referred to as the new three products), etc.

"In fact, calculating the carbon footprints of the new three items is of great significance." Xu Hailiang, vice president of TÜV Nande Smart Energy, a third-party testing agency for foreign companies, believes that green attributes will be a major feature that highlights the advantages and competitiveness of the new three brands.

Based on Xu Hailiang's many years of experience in the field of export product testing, our reporter conducted an exclusive interview with Xu Hailiang.

Foreign policies and regulations have higher carbon footprint requirements for imported products

China Environment News:What are the levels of China's three new carbon emissions?

Xu Hailiang:From a technical perspective, at present, China is definitely the world leader. However, my country's carbon emissions are still relatively high because of its large output.

Taking photovoltaic modules as an example, the carbon emissions of a one-kilowatt photovoltaic module are about 400kg-700kg. The carbon emissions mainly come from silicon wafers. In addition, it also includes module production, because a large number of aluminum and steel frames will be used in the entire photovoltaic construction. Cable, which will bring a lot of carbon emissions. Moreover, China has a complete industrial chain, so if the carbon emissions of the entire industrial chain are included, the emissions will be relatively large.

China Environment News:What is the significance of China's new three products releasing carbon footprint accounting rules and standards for key products?

Xu Hailiang:First of all, because foreign countries will put forward requirements for imported products in accordance with some of their own domestic standards.

For example, on July 28, 2023, the European Union officially promulgated the "New Battery Regulation (EU)2023/1542", which targets five major types of batteries, including portable batteries, starter light ignition batteries, light electric vehicle batteries, electric vehicle batteries, and industrial batteries. Detailed requirements are put forward, including the sustainability and safety requirements of batteries, including hazardous substance limits, carbon footprint, recycled materials, performance and durability, Battery removability and replacement, safety, etc.

Carbon footprint is mentioned here, but we have not yet established an official carbon footprint database. Therefore, at present, databases used by other countries to calculate the carbon footprint of our products are calculated based on international or other national databases. Overseas institutions use China's data around 2011 to calculate the carbon footprint of Chinese products. This is completely different from China's current energy structure. They use higher emission factors to calculate the carbon footprint of our products, which will be a bit unfair.

Secondly, during the export process, the new three products also face policy and regulatory requirements from other countries. Because some foreign countries have many detailed standards for carbon footprint and circular development requirements, these detailed standards and rules are not yet familiar with or have not yet established in China.

For example, some countries have ecological design regulations for photovoltaic modules. The so-called ecological design regulations require that the carbon footprint of a photovoltaic module generating one kilowatt-hour of electricity must not exceed a certain value. This regulation will be implemented in the future, but we still lack similar research in China.

These policies are themselves a challenge for exporting companies. Therefore, the first thing we need to do is to establish our own carbon footprint management system.

Although the international carbon footprint calculation rules are not very strict, they will definitely be calculated according to the rules.

China Environment News:If foreign countries calculate the carbon footprint of related domestic products, can they completely calculate everything from product raw materials to later recycling and disposal?

Xu Hailiang:Foreign products included in the database all have corresponding calculation standards. The carbon footprint calculation rules are different for each product, each model, and each production factory. By defining the life cycle of this product through the calculation rules of different products, the carbon footprint of this product can be calculated. Even if this rule is not so scientific and rigorous, they must calculate according to this rule.

China Environment News:Faced with the strict requirements of foreign policies and regulations, what should Chinese enterprises pay attention to?

Xu Hailiang:In the future, the European Union, the United States and other countries may introduce more relevant policies to use carbon barriers to restrain Chinese companies. For example, there will be an increasing number of tender projects in the EU and overseas, and bidders will put forward requirements on the carbon footprint of the product.

Therefore, I suggest that companies should take precautions. First of all, it is best to sort out the company's own carbon emissions, make a list of your own assets, and know how much your emissions are and what their approximate levels are, and then what are the main emission sources. Only when you have data can you know how to do it. Plan.

Secondly, we must find ways to plan the future emission reduction path of enterprises by improving energy efficiency and improving technology.

Because in the future, whether it is at home or abroad, pay attention to the improvement of green brand image. The higher the green attributes of products, the stronger the competitiveness of companies overseas will be. In the current industry development situation, green attributes must be a relative One of the characteristics that can highlight brand advantages and competitiveness.

It is worth noting that if export products companies have high ESG image requirements, they may require their upstream supply chains to put forward clear goals and plans for carbon management and carbon neutrality, such as reducing emission intensity, green electricity. Increase in proportion, a clear timetable for carbon neutrality, etc. This will also have some impacts on supply chain companies. Therefore, companies in the entire supply chain should also improve their green attributes as soon as possible.