Accelerating Green Technology Innovation to Achieve Carbon Peaking and Neutrality Goals

By Lily Wang

The 2021 Green Future Forum， which follows the theme “opening up green reconstruction”， was held recently. The participants were involved in wide-ranging discussions about key topics relating to the worlds green economy， including “energy transition， green consumption， the carbon neutrality road map and developing future cities”.

Consensus made on carbon peaking and neutrality goals

Yu Jianlong， Secretary-General of the CCPIT， Deputy Director of COOIC and Vice President of ICC WCF， said that developing the green economy has become a global trend. Every entrepreneur must answer the same questions about how to build a community for the shared future for mankind， achieve the recovery of the green economy and create a better future for the planet. It is hoped that all parties can accelerate green technology innovation， set reasonable carbon emission goals， optimize energy structures and promote green development. The CCPIT and the COOIC are willing to work with related parties， take measures to promote the green development of companies and made positive contributions to a better future featuring great harmony between nature and mankind.

Qiu Hexing， Academician of the China Science Center of International Eurasian Academy of Sciences， former deputy minister of the Ministry of Housing and UrbanRural Development and director of the Chinese Society For Urban Studies， said that the goals of carbon peaking and neutrality will create opportunities for certain industries. There will be investment opportunities of RMB 150 trillion， which will redistribute social wealth and create thousands of new industries.

Li Junfeng， Managing Director of the China Energy Research Society and Director of the National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation， said that carbon peaking is like growing up， while carbon neutrality is like losing weight. His viewpoint reflects the current energy transition conditions. This growing up will be inevitable for economic growth， and the weight loss will not be easy. The large proportion of heavy industry and the low energy efficiency represent two hurdles for achieving carbon peaking and neutrality. In this must-win war， it is important to tackle the main problems from the root and to use technology to achieve a better transition for industry.

Li also said that during this process， companies must make innovations in technology， concepts and mechanisms to reduce resource consumption to the minimum possible amount to achieve the carbon peaking and neutrality goals and make our lives better and better.

Anna Pawlak-Kuliga， Chief Sustainable Development Officer of IKEA China， mentioned that each company needs to return to society from three levels. The first is to optimize internal operations， the second is to encourage and educate consumers to choose an environmentally-friendly way of life， and the third is to return corporate values to society.

IKEA has insisted on incorporating its environmental concepts into internal operation processes， covering product design and marketing， transportation and after sales. Anna Pawlak-Kuliga highlighted the fact that sustainable development has become part of IKEAs business model and been reflected in various practices. “At IKEA， we will always consider sustainability and incorporate this concept into our product development. Our product design will ensure that the impact of our carbon footprint on the globe is limited. Also， we will consider how our customers will use our products at home. We are willing to develop and promote more sustainable products to help our customers improve their quality of life and reduce emissions and conduct resource conservation at the same time，” she said.

Tao Jiang， Senior VP of the LIXIL Group and CEO of LIXIL Water Technology （Greater China）， explained that great companies produce good products and also guide consumption habits to make contributions to mankind. Price considerations are now not the only factor.

Carol Liao， President and Managing Director of BCG Greater China and global senior partner， said that the carbon peaking and neutrality goals are very challenging. Considering the short period of time and the weight of the tasks， companies need to grasp opportunities， focus on technological innovation and make breakthroughs in new energy. Meanwhile， it is also important to invest more capital in and make policies to support carbon peaking and neutrality. “This great transition would be impossible without technological support. Both the scaled application of technology and new breakthroughs in technology and new energy are important，” said Carol Liao. She also said that the key words mentioned at the Paris Climate Conference and the Glasgow Climate Conference were “commitment” and “action”respectively. One good thing is that approximately 90% of the worlds economies have set up goals regarding carbon peaking and neutrality.

Triggering an energy revolution

Increasing and accelerating the development and utilization of new energy not only increases the input of technology in new energy itself， but also calls for demand for new power systems. If these power systems cannot be tailored to the use and consumption of a high proportion of green energy， this will also affect the development of new energy. In this regard， Xiong Yi， Senior Vice President of Schneider Electric China， said that more and more factories， data centers and industry parks are now being powered by their own distributed energy， which reduces the pressure on the backbone electric network. At the same time， there are many new energy modes and multiple complementary energy modes.“Take zero carbon parks and smallscale zero carbon plants as an example. If photovoltaic panels with only two or three thousand watts are installed on the roof， a power consumption of approximately 1 million kilowatt hours can be saved for the plant every year. This is a large proportion of cost savings， as the power consumption cost will be reduced by 20-30%. We should start from individual points， use digital technology to better adapt new energy products to power consumption， and finally maximize cost efficiency.”Xiong Yi believes that the power consumption of the whole of society has been increasing， and the structure of the power supply side is also changing. The proportion of coal-fired power is in decline， but there are still many key technical issues to be studied.

At present， the global energy transformation is accelerating. Chen Guanfu， General Manager and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of PowerChina International Engineering Co.， Ltd.， believes that this acceleration has three levels： first， the acceleration of the global consensus on climate change； second， the policy and legal framework and top-level design for dealing with climate change are accelerating； and finally， the specific measures taken by various market players are accelerating. In such an environment， the speed at which market players acquire new energy opportunities is also growing. Chen Guanfu gave an example. From January to September this year， the value of overseas contracts signed by PowerChina was approximately USD 19 billion， and the contract value of wind power and solar power combined was approximately USD 8 billion， accounting for more than 40% of the total. It is his view that this is reflected in the changes brought about by the announcement of the “3060” goals last September.

Liu Maoshu， Vice President and General Manager of the Asia Pacific region of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies， believes that the direct challenges brought about by carbon reduction is the energy revolution. He thought： “we should integrate carbon reduction into economic development.” He put forward four suggestions： first， choosing cleaner and more sustainable raw materials； second， strengthening technological innovation according to demand； third， using more emission technologies； and fourth， improving daily operations through digital means.

Zhao Xin， Vice President of Yili Group， said that in order to reduce carbon， “we must first make carbon investigations and formulate a carbon path map tailored to our conditions. “we must be clear about the overall carbon content of enterprises across the whole of industry. In addition， we should work with partners across the whole industry chain to promote green development and green upgrading， so as to establish an ecosystem. In order to achieve that goal， we should keep discussing these matters and work together.”