Our newspaper interviewed Zhang Jihong of Wuhan University: Doing a good job in carbon footprint management begins with changing corporate awareness

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment and other 15 departments recently jointly issued the "Implementation Plan on Establishing a Carbon Footprint Management System", clarifying that it is necessary to establish and improve a carbon footprint management system and issue carbon footprint accounting rules and standards for key products. In order to meet export needs, some domestic foreign trade companies have taken the lead in carrying out carbon footprint management. What experience can we summarize? What do companies need to do to strengthen carbon footprint management? In response, our reporter interviewed Zhang Jihong, deputy director of the Center for Climate Change and Energy Economics at Wuhan University.

China Environment News: At present, what work have domestic localities and enterprises carried out in terms of carbon footprint management? What experiences can be summarized?

Zhang Jihong:Domestically, provinces such as Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Shandong, which account for a large proportion of foreign trade companies, are relatively advanced in carbon footprint management. For example, according to the "Work Plan for Carbon Footprint Evaluation of Products in Shandong Province (2023-2025)" released last year, it is clear that the carbon footprint calculation of products of 600 key enterprises will be basically completed by 2025. These places have more foreign trade products and a strong demand for carbon footprint management, which requires local governments to do such a thing quickly. In fact, before the introduction of EU carbon tariffs, many foreign trade companies were already required by European partners to conduct carbon footprint calculations.

At present, domestic companies that carry out carbon footprint management are mainly suppliers to foreign trade companies or multinational companies. For example, IKEA's domestic suppliers were earlier required to conduct carbon footprint management. As far as I know, IKEA requires all companies in its supply chain to carry out carbon emission management, not only to clarify their carbon footprint, but also to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025.

With the introduction of EU carbon tariffs, more and more domestic companies are taking the initiative to manage their carbon footprints. Power battery company Ningde Times publicly promised the time for carbon neutrality last year and took a series of measures to reduce carbon emissions. The reason for this is that compliance pressure is a factor that cannot be ignored. The EU is an important market in the Ningde era, and the "EU Battery and Waste Battery Regulations" put forward strict requirements on the carbon footprint management of battery companies entering the EU market. If they fail to do so, they will be excluded from the EU market.

More and more central enterprises are also beginning to compile carbon emission verification reports. Some companies are establishing their own green supply chain systems. Although it cannot be said to be carbon footprint management, the content about carbon is gradually increasing, and some group standards have also been compiled. For example, some central enterprises require suppliers to provide relevant data on carbon emissions when making purchases. Although there are currently no restrictions on management, if these data cannot be provided, you will not be able to enter the supplier list. As far as I know, some new energy vehicle companies are also working on matters related to carbon footprint management.

China Environment News: Will companies carry out carbon footprint management increase operating costs?

Zhang Jihong:Personally, I don't think we should look at it that way. Before, people were unfamiliar with carbon footprint management and thought that it would increase management costs. In fact, this is not the case.

Energy consumption accounts for a large part of corporate carbon emissions, and the rapid development of renewable energy is changing the pattern of the power market. Negative electricity prices have occurred many times in the Shandong power market. In other words, the volatility and randomness of wind power and photovoltaic power generation lead to a mismatch between power supply and demand in time, and the power market will oversupply within a certain period of time. In order to avoid greater losses caused by unit closures, the grid company had to adopt a negative electricity price policy, which means paying users to consume more electricity. Under such circumstances, companies using renewable energy can not only reduce carbon emissions, but also reduce energy costs. However, many companies currently do not have this awareness.

China Environment News: In your opinion, what are the urgent needs to be strengthened in terms of carbon footprint management for domestic enterprises?

Zhang Jihong:I believe that the work that needs to be strengthened most at present is to reverse corporate awareness. Now, as long as you talk to a company about its carbon footprint, the company will think that it will increase costs, but this is not the case.

In the past, companies 'production was relatively "willful". They could produce if they wanted, and use electricity if they wanted. Moreover, the power grid provides good protection to enterprises. Generally, as long as you want to use electricity, you will have electricity, and the electricity price has been determined long ago. After the large-scale development of renewable energy power, the situation has changed and electricity prices may fluctuate. As a company, to carry out carbon management, the most basic thing is energy management, including smooth use of energy and reduction of energy costs. As far as I know, many companies have not established such a capability, and some companies feel that establishing this capability is useless. They believe that as long as they push the switch, they can use electricity.

In fact, companies can arrange production according to the laws of power supply, especially some production links that can be interrupted, which can be arranged during periods when electricity prices are relatively low, thereby reducing energy costs. Therefore, I think it is important to change corporate energy awareness.

In addition, there is also a shortage of specialized talents, including talents for carbon emission management and energy use management. In fact, energy management is also a very professional matter, such as how to participate in electricity spot market transactions and discover electricity consumption laws, which all require professional talents.

China Environment News: What do companies need to do to strengthen carbon footprint management? How to do it?

Zhang Jihong:As far as I know, when conducting carbon footprint verification, many companies usually find third-party organizations to do it in the early stage. In the later stage, companies such as Amazon and IKEA will have special teams to guide suppliers and gradually establish corresponding management capabilities. At present, some domestic companies are doing similar work to empower companies in the supply chain.

However, in general, domestic companies are still relatively lacking in carbon footprint management capabilities. After the "double carbon" goal was proposed in 2020, many companies began to realize the importance of this issue, but they still felt a little confused. In particular, some third-level and fourth-level suppliers believed that this work was far away from them.

I think that if it is a first-level and second-level supplier, this is something that must be done. If it is a third-level and fourth-level supplier and only plans to work for another three to five years, it can be ignored for the time being, but if you want to continue operating for more than five years, this is also a problem you have to face.

For enterprises, we must first arrange specialized personnel to conduct systematic training. Secondly, we must truly integrate carbon footprint management into the enterprise development strategy.

China Environment News: Having obtained relevant data on carbon emissions, what should companies use it?

Zhang Jihong:By analyzing these data, companies can understand their own carbon emissions and clarify the links with the largest emissions, so as to find the points with the greatest emission reduction potential and clarify emission reduction ideas. In addition to primary industrial products, the carbon emissions of most industrial products are mainly concentrated in indirect emissions, most of which are emissions generated by consuming electricity and heat.

According to my preliminary calculations, 70% of the carbon emissions of most industrial products come from electricity consumption. In other words, where the electricity comes from is very important. If renewable energy is used, carbon emissions will be significantly reduced. For these industrial products, the biggest emission reduction potential is the adjustment of the power structure. Another example is heat energy. If heat from cogeneration is used, carbon emissions will definitely be relatively high. However, if other methods such as geothermal energy and biomass are used for heating, carbon emissions will be reduced.

After some companies understand the carbon emissions situation, they not only work hard in the production process, but also use effective measures to achieve management and emission reduction. For example, Geely Automobile is striving to reduce carbon emissions through vehicle and battery recycling. The carbon reduction benefits brought by recycling are very obvious. In this regard, foreign companies have also carried out many practices. For example, Nobelis is a world-renowned aluminum product manufacturer. It realizes recycling through point-to-point management. The cans sold today can be recycled, utilized and put back on shelves within two months. Such recycling has effectively promoted the company's carbon emission reduction.

China Environment News: In terms of strengthening carbon footprint verification and management, what do you think is the most urgent work at present?

Zhang Jihong:I think we urgently need to build a database now. At present, for many reasons, data barriers between domestic departments, industries, and regions still exist. However, product carbon footprints are targeted at a life cycle, and this data barrier needs to be broken from the beginning of its birth. I believe that the establishment of a public data platform is very important. Through this platform, data from other industries can be obtained, and these data must be traceable and authentic. Only in this way can carbon footprint management work be carried out smoothly. Otherwise, different customers may specify different standards or data, which not only increases the workload, but also affects the credibility of the results.