Xue Fang: What are the paths for the green transformation of new energy enterprises?
In the eyes of many energy companies, "dual carbon" has brought huge investment opportunities to the capital market. Xue Fang, an expert of the Green Finance Committee of the China Society for Finance and Banking, deputy secretary-general of the Beijing Credit Society and director of the Ecological Credit Committee, estimates that in the future, green investment will account for more than 25% of the total fixed asset investment in the whole society, and will generate a green and low-carbon investment market of 487 trillion yuan.
At the opening ceremony of the new base of Jiujiang Jingxu New Energy Co., Ltd. and the first photovoltaic zero-carbon industry chain innovation and development forum from January 12th to 13th, he suggested in an exclusive interview with reporters that new energy enterprises should closely follow the keyword of "double carbon" and learn from the "carbon seller" of carbon sink realization in the new energy automobile industry experience, explore the innovation path of low-carbon and green enterprises, and allocate funds to the green assets and green projects of enterprises, so as to smoothly connect with multi-level capital market channels, reduce the financing costs and transaction costs of new energy enterprises in the era of low-carbon and green development, and avoid investment waste.
He believes that the mature stage path of green transformation of new energy enterprises at this stage includes: steel electric furnace, scrap steel utilization, cement co-disposal, recycled aluminum, etc. in the industrial field, electric vehicles and charging piles in the field of road transportation, clean energy in the energy field, electrification and air heat pumps in the construction field, prefabricated buildings, etc., as well as green travel and garbage classification on the consumer side.
The paths in the initial stage include: reduction and transfer of production capacity in the industrial field, fuel cell and hydrogen battery recycling in the transportation field, smart grid, wind and solar curtailment in the energy field, and thermal power capacity reduction.
The paths in the research stage include: cement clean fuels, chemical Power-to-X (through a hardware system with electricity to hydrogen as the core, renewable energy power generation is converted into hydrogen, and then combined with subsequent chemical processes to generate green bulk chemical products, such as green ammonia, green methane, green methanol, green synthetic fuels, etc.), and the promotion and application of steel hydrogen reduction.
In addition to the above paths, he also suggested that new energy companies make good use of ESG. ESG investment has become one of the mainstream investment strategies in the world, and the ESG mechanism has also become the standard for enterprises, especially new energy enterprises, to seize the green track opportunities, open up capital market channels, and build core competitiveness under the dual carbon goals.
Xue Fang said that ESG strategy (concept), ESG standard (rating), ESG investment (framework), ESG capital (responsible investment, patient capital), and ESG governance (letter disclosure and risk control mechanism) are the directions that new energy enterprises, especially those planning to be listed and those planning to issue bonds, need to focus on in the future, and they are also the necessary options for these enterprises to comprehensively reshape their company's development strategy, organizational structure and core competitiveness.
The ESG mechanism consists of three core elements: information disclosure, evaluation and rating, and investment guidance. A significant portion of the ESG rating is an active rating (similar to a country's sovereign credit rating). ESG focuses on project selection, risk identification and risk control capabilities, focusing on the sustainability of business activities and their positive and negative externalities, especially the balance between financial goals and long-term goals.
At the same time, relevant new energy enterprises should also prevent and avoid the occurrence of ESG "greenwashing", and focus on improving the ability to build a green supply chain.
Xue Fang suggested that relevant enterprises can take advantage of the opportunity of the national adjustment and optimization of industrial structure and energy structure policies to eliminate backward production capacity, force the synchronous development of green and intelligent supply chains, and form the modernization layout and strategic goals of enterprise supply chains. By participating in the trading of carbon emission rights and emission rights, we will improve the resilience of enterprises' green supply chains. The use of environmental labeling products, green product certification system and subscription of enterprise "green certificates" to expand the green consumer market and strengthen the competitiveness of enterprises' green supply chain. In the new investment, there will be more tilt towards green projects, with a clause of "reducing emissions and improving efficiency".
In terms of green technology innovation, the innovation of green product design, green materials, green processes, green equipment, green recycling, green packaging and other whole-process technologies is also the focus of new energy enterprises.
In terms of green management innovation, it is necessary to improve the green enterprise management mechanism, green certification and standard system, green cost management innovation, adopt advanced production methods, establish a green marketing mechanism, establish a green networked supply chain, establish an environmental assessment and management system, and a friendly social responsibility system.
Xue Fang believes that in the next step, new energy enterprises can use new financial market mechanisms and tools such as emission rights trading, carbon market, carbon finance, green finance and ecological credit system to explore innovative green transformation paths for new energy enterprises at multiple levels.
