Create a green circle of friends. Under Schneider’s ＂Zero Carbon Plan＂, global suppliers reduce carbon by an average of 20%
The bus drove into the factory of Tianjin Jinrong Tianyu Precision Machinery Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jinrong Tianyu"), and rows of rooftop photovoltaics were working in the sunny day. On August 3rd, Beijing News Shell Finance reporter visited Schneider (Beijing) Medium-voltage & Low-voltage Electric Appliance Co., Ltd. and Jin Rong Tianyu, the core partner of Schneider Electric supplier’s "Zero Carbon Plan".
Carbon neutrality is a systematic project, which requires the close cooperation of all parties in the ecological chain. In 2021, Schneider Electric launched the "Zero Carbon Plan" for suppliers, aiming to help the top 1,000 major suppliers in the world reduce their carbon emissions by 50% by 2025, including 230 core suppliers in China.
As of July this year, Schneider Electric has helped global suppliers reduce carbon by an average of 20%. It is worth mentioning that the carbon reduction achievements of suppliers in China are particularly remarkable, with an average carbon reduction of 21%, slightly higher than the global level.
Zhao Hong, co-director and president of Jinrong Tianyu, told the Beijing News Shell Finance reporter that with the rapid development of electric vehicles today, in order to reduce the overall weight and fuel consumption of vehicles, the demand for lightweight materials in the automobile manufacturing industry is increasing.
For example, she said that the stamping industry can seek to use more environmentally friendly lightweight materials, such as high-strength steel, aluminum alloy and composite materials, to replace traditional heavy metals. Using advanced digital simulation technology in mold R&D and design can optimize product design, reduce material waste and improve product cost competitiveness. All these bring more business opportunities to Jin Rong.
Figure/Schneider factory visit
More carbon emissions from upstream and downstream need the concerted efforts of friends to reduce carbon.
The reporter first came to Schneider (Beijing) Medium-voltage & Low-voltage Electrical Appliance Co., Ltd., which is known as the "zero-carbon factory". Here, the largest photovoltaic project in the company has been installed only in terms of adopting clean energy, which has realized the optimization of the overall energy cost, and the annual power generation has reached 2.3 million kWh, which has undertaken 34.9% of the annual energy supply of the factory, reducing carbon emissions by 1,540 tons, not only achieving environmental protection, but also improving economic benefits.
However, carbon emissions have broken through the system boundaries, and the green and low-carbon transformation of enterprises comes more from the pressure of supply chain, and the carbon emissions generated by upstream and downstream are often more than their own. Take Schneider Electric as an example, the carbon emissions of its own factories only account for 10% of the whole supply chain, and 90% of the carbon emissions come from upstream and downstream. Therefore, enterprises must incorporate the key processes of the whole industrial chain into the planning, including energy use, raw material selection, product manufacturing, transportation, use and recycling, in order to truly achieve carbon neutrality.
Gong Jianfeng, vice president of procurement of Schneider Electric’s global supply chain in China, told reporters: "Schneider Electric has strengthened the overall competitiveness of the supply chain through the supplier’s’ zero carbon plan’. We look forward to helping 1,000 suppliers achieve the goal of reducing carbon by 50% in 2025, and on this basis, we will further formulate a green strategy, empower the end-to-end supply chain and a wider ecosystem, and achieve a more comprehensive and efficient sustainable development. "
Gong Jianfeng introduced that at the beginning of the "Zero Carbon Plan", most suppliers rated their green and low-carbon development as "initial stage" in the questionnaire. Nowadays, most suppliers are already in the stage of strategic planning or action.
Speaking of specific support, in terms of technology and resources, he said that Schneider Electric provided carbon reduction path planning, carbon emission statistical tools, software and hardware solutions, etc., to help suppliers optimize production and operation, improve efficiency and reduce carbon, and truly embark on a "sustainable" green and low-carbon transformation road.
In terms of resource support, he introduced that Schneider Electric shared third-party resources and experiences with suppliers, including green electricity and green certificate procurement opportunities, and also provided CDP carbon emission declaration, consulting and certification opportunities for suppliers, and opened more than 10 online courses to provide training for suppliers on a regular basis.
Gong Jianfeng introduced that Schneider Electric’s goal is to achieve carbon neutrality in the end-to-end value chain by 2040; By 2050, achieve zero net carbon emissions in the end-to-end value chain. "Core suppliers, including Jin Rongtianyu, are an important part of our end-to-end carbon reduction and an indispensable force for us to achieve our carbon reduction commitment".
Developing a circle of zero-carbon friends Jinrong Tianyu’s carbon emission reduction has dropped by more than 20%
Jin Rong Tianyu shared his green experience through the "Zero Carbon Plan".
Today, Jinrong Tianyu has deployed rooftop photovoltaic, smart lighting system and energy storage system. Sun Xingwen, co-founder and chairman of Jinrong Tianyu, told reporters that the company uses EMS energy management system to systematically integrate and visually display information such as lighting, HVAC, power transformation and distribution, equipment energy consumption, etc., so as to realize online monitoring of equipment and remote unattended operation and maintenance of substations with clairvoyance subsystem, and manage the whole life cycle of pan-energy equipment and facilities.
Sun Xingwen introduced that by participating in the supplier’s "Zero Carbon Plan", Jin Rongtianyu has formulated a top-level plan for sustainable development, such as establishing a green and intelligent smart energy system, integrating ground source heat pump, photovoltaic power generation, unattended substation, energy efficiency management and control, smart lighting and other technologies, systematically promoting overall energy conservation and carbon reduction, only laying its own photovoltaic, and it is estimated that the annual emission reduction will reach 1,100 tons. By the end of 2022, the company’s carbon emission reduction per 100 million yuan of sales has decreased by 22.2%.
Nowadays, "going out" has become the choice of many domestic enterprises. In 2016, with the help of Schneider Electric, Jinrong Tianyu laid out the markets in Southeast Asia and India. In 2017, it set up its first overseas factory in Thailand, and took the layout of internationalization, globalization and regionalization.
Zhao Hong recalled to reporters that in the process of entering overseas markets, Jin Rongtianyu had both opportunities and challenges, such as establishing a localized supply chain, improving the local supply chain capacity, building the organizational structure of overseas companies and managing local employees, all of which were the capabilities that Jin Rongtianyu had been trying to improve when building factories overseas.
Under the background of carbon reduction, countries all over the world are actively taking measures to deal with climate change and reduce carbon emissions. Carbon reduction has also brought many opportunities to the company.
Zhao Hong introduced that the company has obtained the development of important parts in Schneider Electric’s new generation environmental protection gas insulated medium-voltage ring network cabinet project, which is a major project with leading technology in the world. At present, the products have been fully mass-produced and have broad market prospects in the future, which will bring good sales income to Jin Rongtianyu.
Jin Rong Tianyu also provides products and services for the automotive field. "We are constantly researching and innovating, replacing hot forging, die casting and other high-energy-consuming processes with stamping, which will bring more business opportunities to Jinrong," Zhao Hong said.
In this regard, Zhao Yang, vice president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Automobile Industry Branch, said that environmental protection is an important cornerstone of the sustainable development of the automobile industry. Since the national double carbon target was put forward, industrial chain enterprises have responded positively and seized the opportunity period of new competitive advantages. In the international market, with carbon footprint as the core, the requirements of environmental protection are increasing day by day, and the global automobile industry chain enterprises are paying more and more attention to the carbon footprint of automobiles throughout their life cycle. "We will continue to reduce the carbon footprint of vehicles, and at the same time pay attention to the environmental impact in the process of vehicle manufacturing, and promote resource conservation and recycling. Create a green supply chain and reduce the environmental impact of the terminal links of the industrial chain. "
Rui Meng, a professor of finance and accounting at China Europe International Business School and a professor of Pengruijin Finance, also told reporters that dual carbon can also create new business opportunities, new products, new services and new markets for enterprises, which can reduce the cost of enterprises and bring innovative thinking.
Talking about future development, Sun Xingwen said that since joining the "Zero Carbon Plan" in 2021, Jin Rongtianyu has established a top-level plan and goal for sustainable development and formulated an action path for phased implementation. By the end of 2022, the carbon emission reduction of Jinrong Tianyu per 100 million yuan of sales decreased from 784.6 tons in 2019 to 610.4 tons by the end of 2022, with an overall decrease of 22.2%.
According to Jin Rong Tianyu’s goal, the company will achieve carbon emission reduction by 50% in 2025 compared with 2019. "The pressure of this goal is also relatively great, but we will definitely stick to it in the direction of green industrial chain," Sun Xingwen said.
Beijing News Shell Financial Reporter Lin Zi
Editor Song Yuting
Proofread Junyan Zhang
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