In the proposals and suggestions submitted by national deputies and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in 2024, we find that terms like "carbon footprint" and "carbon management" have become popular buzzwords in the context of the dual carbon goals.
Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi Group: Accelerate the Establishment of a Carbon Footprint Background for Manufacturing
- Accelerate the establishment of a carbon footprint background database for manufacturing, promoting international alignment and mutual recognition.
- Support the creation of a green digital supply chain system to achieve coordinated connectivity within the supply chain.
- Explore the establishment of a national trading mechanism for green electricity to promote the leadership of chain leaders in the supply chain.
Lǐ Shūfú, Chairman of Geely Holding Group: Establish a Unified Product Carbon Footprint Management System for the Automotive Industry
- Establish a unified product carbon footprint management system for the automotive industry and promote international alignment and mutual recognition of automotive product carbon footprints.
- Accelerate the introduction of supportive policies for carbon reduction in key industries, advance the construction of a national carbon market, and promote planned carbon reduction through market mechanisms.
- Strengthen the standardized management of digital carbon management tools.
Liu Han Yuan, Chairman of Tongwei Group: Construct a Grid Emission Factor Database and Improve the Green Electricity Trading Mechanism
- Build a grid emission factor database with authenticity, traceability, comprehensiveness, and timeliness, in line with international standards, and update national, regional, and provincial grid emission factors regularly.
- Through extensive international cooperation, seek alignment with international carbon accounting norms to ensure the database is widely recognized by different countries, regions, and application scenarios.
- Suggest accelerating the improvement of the green electricity trading mechanism to avoid the same project receiving multiple environmental benefits.
Li Donglin, Party Secretary and Chairman of CRRC Zhuzhou Institute: Increase Policy Support for Carbon Reduction in Core Export Product Supply Chains
- Through a localized LCA carbon footprint database, companies can quickly obtain carbon emission data and quantify environmental impacts. Recommend establishing a list of core export products, rules for disclosing supply chain carbon footprint data, and a high-quality localized LCA database. This will enable companies to share carbon emission data and reduction measures with upstream and downstream partners, coordinating joint reduction actions.
Zhong Zeng, Vice President of Midea: Accelerate the Construction of a Carbon Footprint Management System for Home Appliances
- Prioritize the establishment of a unified and standardized carbon footprint calculation standard system for home appliances to provide guidance for scientific carbon footprint calculations by companies and relevant institutions, and to support future international recognition.
- Establish a specialized carbon footprint database for home appliances to provide scientific, accurate, and internationally recognized data support for the full lifecycle carbon footprint assessment of home appliances.
- Improve the carbon footprint certification system and regulations, accelerate the promotion and application of carbon labels and reduction symbols in consumer goods such as home appliances, and guide consumers to choose green, low-carbon home appliances.
Zhang Tianren, Chairman of Tian能 Holding Group: Establish Calculation Rules for Battery Carbon Footprints
- Suggest including battery products in the list of 50 key products for carbon footprint calculation rules and standards by 2025.
- Improve the full lifecycle carbon footprint database for the battery industry.
- Establish and improve calculation standards for carbon footprints in the battery recycling phase.
Xue Jiping, Chairman of Zhongtian Technology: Multiple Measures to Address the EU's "Carbon Tariff"
- Advance the professional enhancement and standardized development of relevant Chinese institutions to form a batch of internationally influential institutional brands, enhancing international recognition and authority, and facilitating Chinese enterprises' access to nearby product carbon verification and carbon footprint certification.
- Expand the coverage of domestic carbon trading industries, establish and improve the carbon emission statistics and accounting system, perfect the carbon trading market legal framework, strengthen the regulatory mechanism of the carbon market, and actively promote mutual recognition between the domestic carbon market and the EU's "carbon tariff," keeping carbon taxes within the country and enhancing the international influence of China's carbon market.
Wang Zhen, President of Inner Mongolia Ordos Holdings Group: Build a Localized Background Database for the Textile Industry
- Incorporate the construction of a localized background database for the textile industry into the task of building a localized background database for industry.
- Allocate special funds to support the construction work, relying on a full lifecycle green evaluation service platform for textiles to serve a wide range of textile enterprises.
- Expand the scope of tax and financial policy support and include product carbon footprint evaluation services in the support policies.
Yang Zhi: Accelerate the Construction of a National Carbon Market System
- Accelerate the construction of a carbon emission data system. Develop a unified enterprise carbon emission rights management and pollution discharge credit information system, aiming to integrate it into the financial credit information basic database established by the People's Bank of China to provide green credit information services.
- Accelerate the formulation of a national carbon market development master plan. In the near term, focus on establishing and improving laws, regulations, and systems compatible with the national carbon market, forming a "1+N+X" policy system with the National Carbon Emission Rights Trading Regulations as the foundation, ecological environment department management systems as the focus, and exchange trading rules as the support.
It is evident that the lack of uniform product carbon footprint standards, the absence of unified rules for selecting emission factor data, the lack of foundational databases, and the difficulty in choosing carbon management platforms remain significant constraints on business development. A unified and standardized product carbon footprint database and digital carbon management software are common needs across industries.
Take the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry as an example. According to the latest data from the General Administration of Customs, China exported 5.22 million vehicles in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 57.4%, making China the world's largest automobile exporter. However, the EU, the US, and other regions have introduced a series of policies such as "anti-subsidy" and "carbon tariffs," casting a shadow over the globalization of China's automotive industry. Domestic automotive industry chains are still in the exploratory stage regarding corporate-level and product-level carbon emission accounting, with widespread sources of carbon emission data and non-uniform standards, further increasing the difficulty of achieving international recognition in the short term. Additionally, there is no unified standard or supervision mechanism for carbon management platforms in the industry, leading to a mixed market of products that not only confuse companies about how to select appropriate carbon management platforms for their industry but also result in significant resource waste.
Carbonstop, as a pioneer in China's carbon management, has built the world-leading China Carbon Database since its establishment in 2011. By legally collecting public data from various national databases, interacting with internationally renowned databases such as IPCC, Ecoinvent, Defra, ELCD, and EU, collaborating with authoritative institutions like the China Academy of Standardization, and conducting thousands of projects, Carbonstop has constructed a comprehensive carbon emission factor database. The latest version of the database includes over 150,000 emission factors, covering over 200 countries and regions and over 20 industries, making it the largest carbon emission factor database in China. This one-stop enterprise carbon management SaaS platform provides support for corporate carbon accounting and product carbon footprint calculation, reducing the difficulty of data collection and improving the accuracy of calculations.
On November 22, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and other departments released the Opinion on Accelerating the Establishment of a Product Carbon Footprint Management System. This indicates that policies will strongly support the standardization of product carbon footprint calculation, management, and certification, ensuring data credibility, traceability, and mutual recognition. The NDRC's interpretation of the Opinion on Accelerating the Establishment of a Product Carbon Footprint Management System emphasizes this point.
This year's government work report also proposed advocating green, low-carbon, civilized, and healthy consumption habits. The popularization of carbon labels can leverage events like Beijing Consumption Season to link major commercial districts and consumption venues in Beijing, guiding consumers to purchase energy-saving and low-carbon products. Establishing a green, low-carbon consumption model based on carbon footprint information labels can drive a societal transformation towards green, low-carbon consumption. "Low-Carbon Heroes" have already taken the lead, labeling all products on their platforms with carbon labels since their inception. This initiative not only helps consumers understand the carbon footprint of products but also incentivizes companies to further reduce carbon emissions in production processes, promoting the green development of the entire supply chain. Through consumer choices, a market mechanism can be formed to encourage more companies to join the ranks of low-carbon transformation.
The achievement of the dual carbon goals requires the joint efforts of the government, enterprises, and society. With the continuous introduction and improvement of relevant policies and standards, companies can more effectively conduct product carbon footprint calculations, management, and disclosure, implement process improvements, and strengthen energy conservation and carbon reduction management. This will attract more social capital and ultimately enhance core business performance while driving societal carbon neutrality.
