The 2024 Carbon Neutrality and Green Development Conference was held in Shanghai
On April 18, the 2024 Carbon Neutrality and Green Development Conference hosted by the China Environmental Service Industry Chamber of Commerce was held in Shanghai. With the theme of "Focusing on International ESG Sustainability, the Road to 'Carbon' Digital and Intelligent Transformation", the conference focused on the urban low-carbon industrial structure, green energy transformation, digital technology empowering the carbon neutral development of cities, ESG and international green supply chains, deep integration of emerging technologies and low-carbon industries, global carbon governance mechanisms and scientific and technological innovation practices, and digital, intelligent and green integrated development of green and low-carbon application scenarios.
Carbon neutrality and green development have become the focus of global attention. For China, actively and steadily promoting carbon peak and carbon neutrality is not only an urgent need to break the constraints of resources and environment, but also our commitment to respond to global climate change, an inevitable choice to achieve the sustainable development of the Chinese nation, and the only way to promote the country's high-quality development and realize the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
China has elevated "actively responding to climate change" to a national strategic level, clearly set the dual carbon goals, and continuously improved the policy system, sending a clear signal to all enterprises: the implementation of green strategy is no longer a choice question, but a must question related to the life and death of enterprises. At the same time, Chinese enterprises are ushering in a new chapter of internationalization, and the road to high-quality going overseas not only requires the construction of a sound ESG system, but also needs to actively embrace information technology, break the boundaries of enterprises, and move towards a new realm of "high quality, innovation, mutual benefit and win-win", so as to lay a solid foundation for global sustainable development.
Huang Zhen, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and dean of the Institute of Carbon Neutrality and Development of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, pointed out at the meeting that China's green and low-carbon technology industry is booming, and the progress of new energy technology provides a solid foundation for carbon neutrality and green energy transformation, and has a strong driving force for high-quality development.
He stressed that achieving the "dual carbon" goal is not only a matter of emission reduction, but also a major strategy related to high-quality development and security in the future. In the energy transition, it is necessary to play a key role in science and technology, increase research and development in key areas such as renewable energy, re-electrification, and new power systems, achieve breakthroughs in energy science and technology, and establish a technology evaluation and trading system to accelerate the transformation of achievements. The government and the market should form a joint force to ensure the transition goals through legislation, accelerate the construction of carbon markets and electricity markets, increase the environmental costs of fossil fuels, reduce green premiums, respond to international challenges, and encourage clean energy investment and user-side flexibility.
At the meeting, Zhu Dajian, Director of the Institute of Sustainable Development and Management of Tongji University, emphasized the necessity of ESG institutional guarantee in realizing the green energy transition. He said that from the patched CSR to the transformative ESG concept, it shows that ESG is in line with the trend of the world, and from the perspective of the A-share ESG information disclosure method since 2018, the ESG report of Chinese enterprises will grow non-linearly, which is also the performance of high-quality development requiring Chinese enterprises to become bigger and stronger. The difference between the ESG regulatory model and CSR is that the social value and business value of the enterprise need to go hand in hand, and business opportunities should be found in the process of solving social and environmental problems to realize business value. Zhu Dajian suggested that enterprises should use substantive analysis to achieve business-social dual competitiveness, and the economic benefits of ESG depend on the substantive analysis of enterprises.
It is reported that Mei Dewen, Vice Chairman of the Beijing Stock Exchange, Qin Cheng, General Manager of Siemens Xcelerator China, Zhang Xiaobo, Director of Corporate Affairs and Strategy of Veolia China, and other outstanding experts, scholars and business representatives from all over the world made keynote speeches such as "Carbon Market in the Context of Carbon Neutrality and Carbon Tariffs: Current Situation and Prospects", "'Digitalization' and 'Low-carbon' Two-Wheel Drive, Promoting High-quality and Sustainable Development of the Industry", "Promoting Circular Economy and Realizing Ecological Transformation", and other keynote speeches to discuss the future development trend of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.
The content of the conference is closely related to the concept of green energy transformation and ESG, and experts and scholars will share the leading technologies and successful experiences of green transformation at home and abroad, providing strong intellectual support and power source for domestic green and low-carbon development. The exchange of these technologies and experiences will not only help promote new progress in domestic green and low-carbon development, but also contribute China's wisdom and strength to global green and low-carbon development.
