Schneider Electric China President: Choose the right tools, green investment need not be expensive
Schneider Electric China President: Choose the right tools, green investment need not be expensive
Source: iooeoo.com
The "2060 carbon neutral" target marks the beginning of China's long-term low-carbon transition mode, the 14th Five-Year Plan also pointed out that the next five years will be a key window period for "carbon peak". Sustainable development and green transformation are no longer extra points for enterprises to meet their "strict requirements", but a necessary question for their survival or even a "pass line".
However, carbon emission reduction transformation means a certain amount of investment. Under the pressure of green transformation, "brown industries" with high carbon are in a dilemma. In March this year, Standard Chartered Bank released a research report after interviewing the senior management and 100 investment experts of 250 large enterprises around the world, showing that the biggest obstacle to enterprise transformation is the lack of funds, and it is particularly difficult for those industries and enterprises with high carbon emissions to transition to net zero emissions. Some 64% of the executives surveyed believe that their companies are being held back by the cost of alternative technologies associated with the transition.
What is the balance between green transformation and business benefits for heavy and manufacturing industries with high energy consumption? Yin Zheng, executive vice president of Schneider Electric and president of China, said in a recent interview with thepaper.cn that if you look back 10 years, there were problems of insufficient and expensive low-carbon technology. Today, the availability and maturity of technology has increased dramatically. If an enterprise develops a green transformation path suitable for itself and chooses appropriate partners and tools, the initial investment may not be very high, and the cost can be recovered and benefits can be brought relatively quickly. Yin Zheng, Executive Vice President of Schneider Electric and President of China
In fact, in addition to meeting the external constraints of "carbon compliance", the green transformation process of enterprises to become carbon neutral will also force enterprises to improve the level of management refinement, reduce operating costs including energy, improve energy efficiency and operational efficiency, and thus improve the overall competitiveness of enterprises.
At present, the effective way to move towards carbon neutrality is to increase the proportion of new energy, improve energy efficiency and increase the proportion of electricity use. Yin pointed out that for most companies, digitalization is the best tool to promote carbon neutrality, as new energy and electrification are restricted by the industry. "Digitization provides the basis for measuring and analyzing energy consumption and reducing energy consumption through integrated management, while promoting the development of new energy and circular economy."
According to Yin Zheng, from the 230 projects Schneider Electric has completed in 41 countries around the world, the company's carbon footprint has been optimized by up to 50% and an average of 20%. In terms of energy saving and consumption reduction, the maximum and average optimization of 85% and 24% have been achieved, and the fastest investment return time of green transformation is only 0.75 years. Practice has proved that the ROI trajectories of green transformation and digital transformation are similar, and digital transformation is the best weapon to achieve green development.
Taking the digital solutions provided by Schneider Electric for Swire Properties' six commercial complex projects of nearly 2 million square meters as an example, while accelerating the digitization of the whole enterprise and low-carbon sustainable development, it is expected to generate energy efficiency benefits of nearly 10 million yuan per year.
Yin suggested that carbon neutrality is a systematic project, which requires systematic planning and design both internally and externally. Companies should systematically consider carbon reduction at the strategic planning stage: internally, it involves design, manufacturing, transportation, recycling, etc., integrate sustainability into all aspects of their business, and deploy relevant technologies to measure, execute and manage carbon reduction in a timely manner. Externally, this involves the management and coordination of supply chains and ecological partners.
In the global wave of carbon reduction and the post-epidemic world green recovery background, green supply chain is highly praised. A new trend that has emerged in the last two years is for large international purchasers to include supply chain mitigation in their climate goals.
Large enterprises are relatively rich in resources, technologies and talent reserves, and have significant economies of scale. Green transformation is relatively easy. Green procurement strategies, promoted by large companies, can help steer SMEs along the supply chain towards higher energy efficiency and lower carbon emissions.
Schneider Electric is one of the typical representatives. The company has pledged to be carbon neutral at the corporate level by 2025; Achieving net zero carbon emissions at the company's operational level by 2030; To be carbon neutral in supply chain operations by 2040; To achieve net zero carbon emissions at the supply chain operational level by 2050.
By 2025, Schneider Electric plans to increase the energy efficiency of its plants by another 15% and build 150 "zero-carbon plants". At the supplier level, through green procurement and training empowerment, the top 1,000 suppliers will reduce their CO2 emissions from their operations by 50% by 2025; In terms of logistics, 1/3 of the company's vehicles will be electric by 2025 and all electric vehicles will be adopted by 2030.
'Looking at the whole value chain, the vast majority of Schneider Electric's carbon emissions come from the supply chain, not from its own plants,' Mr. Yin said. The goal setting and implementation of carbon footprint, carbon emission reduction, carbon peak and carbon neutrality are inseparable from the supply chain. The whole supply chain emission reduction is an efficient way to reduce the carbon emissions of enterprises and industries. In terms of the number of enterprises, SMEs account for more than 90% of China's industrial enterprises, and their willingness to reduce emissions is not as strong as leading enterprises. However, through the core enterprises in the supply chain to make binding requirements for small and medium-sized enterprises and share relevant experience and technology, can effectively promote the latter's carbon emission reduction process, to achieve the overall emission reduction of the ecosystem.
"Tackling climate change ultimately depends on technology." Yin Zheng believes that for enterprises, digital technology is a powerful weapon to reduce carbon emissions. It can not only achieve efficiency and sustainability simultaneously, promote electrification and new energy use, but also help the manufacturing industry to achieve a circular economy, reduce waste and industrial landfills, reduce "brownfield" and achieve a systematic carbon reduction effect. Therefore, by choosing digital tools, choosing the right partners and integrating into the green supply chain, Chinese companies can start green transformation as soon as possible and reap both economic and social benefits.