A photovoltaic (PV) power station on a barren mountain in Xianju county, East China's Zhejiang Province, delivers green energy on January 8, 2023. Photo: IC

A growing number of global companies are eyeing green energy and low-carbon transformation in China, as the country is driving itself from high-speed growth to high-quality development, together with a "dual carbon" goal in their sights. Especially, a dual-transformation of digital and de-carbonization has become the top priority on many industries' agenda.

According to Yin Zheng, Executive Vice President of China & East Asia Operations, Schneider Electric, the two trends has brought challenges to all industries but also opportunities and digitalization has become the best tool to overcome the challenges ahead. Thus, Schneider Electric has put one of its four global R&D bases in China, focusing on digital technologies and solutions.

These remarks were made at the Innovation Summit recently held by the company in Wuzhen, East China's Zhejiang Province.
 
Through digital technology, the company helps industries, buildings, data centers and infrastructure realize 15 - 30 percent of energy saving and reduce carbon emissions by 20 to 90 percent. Particularly in the field of supply chain, the company drives upstream and downstream innovations, promoting green transformation of the whole value chain while moving toward an efficient, green and low-carbon future.
 
"With digital technologies, 17 of our Chinese factories are 'zero-carbon factories,' 15 are national-level 'green factories' identified by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Compared with the baseline in 2019, the overall energy consumption of our supply chain in China has been reduced by 13 percent, and it is expected to continue to decrease in the future," Yin said.

Yin added that "We will launch more digital, green and low-carbon transformation solutions that meet the needs of the Chinese market, empowering our customers to accelerate their dual-transformations. Together, we hope to make contribution to the 'dual carbon' goals and boost the high-quality development of the Chinese economy. "
 
Echoing Yin Zheng's thoughts, Zhou Dadi, the Chinese expert in climate change and energy sector, said on the summit that technological progress has spawned a number of new fields with green and low-carbon attributes, such as zero-energy buildings and solar-storage direct-flexible systems, laying the foundation for the green and low-carbon transformation. 
 
How to apply technology, especially digital technology, to improve total factor productivity and achieve "cornering overtaking" is a challenge faced by every enterprise at present, but it also presents tremendous opportunities for development, said Guan Qingyou, president of Rushi Advanced Institute of Finance, resonating the significance of digitalization during the summit. Guan also stated that it is necessary for enterprises to upgrade service capabilities, digital capabilities, and manufacturing capabilities in order to create core competitiveness in the digital era.
 
Overseas companies in China are accelerating their digitalization and green and low-carbon transformation driven by high-quality development and "dual carbon" goals.

Last week, CSSC Power (Group) Co and BASF announced a partnership to accelerate progress of integrating a carbon capture (CO2 capture) system for commercial maritime applications.
 
Both parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during the 2023 Shanghai International Carbon Neutrality Expo in Technologies, Products and Achievements to commemorate the partnership.
 
Recently, L'Oréal China said at the carbon expo that AP Label, one of its suppliers in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu Province has just realized carbon neutrality.
 
"This is the first step. And there are very important steps for the future. And that's why we are calling all our partners and suppliers into this journey", said Fabrice MEGARBANE, President of L'Oréal North Asia Zone.