In the eyes of industry insiders, the mainland's new energy supply chain is perfect and has a high market share, and green trade barriers, including carbon footprint and carbon emission requirements, have become a new topic for the new energy industry and enterprises to actively deal with.
The European Union's "Batteries and Waste Batteries Act" (hereinafter referred to as the "Act") will officially come into force on August 17, 2023, stipulating that from February 18, 2025 at the latest, power batteries sold in the EU market must provide a carbon footprint statement, and the export of power batteries in mainland China faces a "threshold". In addition, the mainland's photovoltaic and wind power industries will also be affected by the setting of carbon emission barriers in Europe. In the eyes of industry insiders, the mainland's new energy supply chain is perfect and has a high market share, and green trade barriers, including carbon footprint and carbon emission requirements, have become a new topic for the new energy industry and enterprises to actively deal with.
Battery carbon emission boundaries are different
"The bill stipulates the carbon emissions of the whole life cycle from raw materials to product scrap disposal, and due to the lack of upstream enterprise data, mainland energy storage companies are temporarily unable to complete the report as required." Shu Yinbiao, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chairman of the Chinese Society of Electrical Engineering, recently publicly stated that mainland battery export enterprises are facing the problem of carbon footprint accounting certification under green trade barriers, which is reflected in the fact that the mainland carbon emission accounting boundary is different from the EU's regulations, resulting in enterprises unable to obtain detailed data from some suppliers required by the EU. "The mainland carbon market mainly requires the identification of emission facilities by identifying carbon footprints within the boundaries of corporate legal persons, while the EU requires the carbon emissions of front-end raw materials, that is, the carbon emission data of each link of the battery supply chain is required." At present, the continental data support system and basic database are being created, resulting in the carbon emissions of battery products being overestimated. "Carbon emissions on the mainland are actually not that big, but in the EU database, there are products that are more than twice as high. For example, the European Union's database records that the carbon emission factor of the continental power grid is 1,155 grams per kilowatt-hour, which is twice as high as the average carbon emission factor of the mainland in 2022 of 570 grams, but the national average grid emission factor has not yet reflected the use of clean energy by region and time. Shu Yinbiao said bluntly. It is worth noting that due to the mandatory disclosure of carbon emission information in the whole process of product production by new energy export enterprises such as batteries, it may lead to the leakage of technical secrets of enterprises. Industry experts believe that in response to international green trade barriers, the mainland needs to accelerate the construction of a new energy storage product carbon footprint accounting standard system, establish a basic carbon footprint database, strengthen bilateral and multilateral international energy cooperation, establish carbon footprint testing and certification institutions with major trading partners, and a mutual recognition mechanism for qualifications, so as to promote international mutual recognition of the green value of electricity. "Carbon footprint isn't the only new requirement in the Act, but it's urgent, unfamiliar, and uncertain compared to other new requirements. In the face of technical requirements, enterprises need to quickly improve their knowledge of the rules, understand the accounting content and methods, and lead the supply chain to jointly implement them. A senior expert in carbon emission research told the "China Energy News" reporter that it investigated a number of domestic power battery manufacturers, and generally reported that the battery carbon footprint report was under great pressure, first, the time requirement was urgent; Second, there is less experience in carrying out related work, and the data foundation of the supply chain is weak; Third, the trial calculation results of some manufacturers show that the carbon footprint of domestically produced power batteries is high.
The market for new energy products is mainly in China
Not only the battery industry, but also the mainland's photovoltaic and wind power industries. France, for example, has required carbon emissions to be included in the scoring of 100kW PV project tenders; Italian electricity companies require scoring of carbon emissions from wind turbine products during the bidding process; The EU's CBAM entered a transition period in October last year, with a transition period until the end of 2025, formal requirements for payment in 2026, and full implementation by 2034.
Zhang Na, an associate professor at the School of Economics and Management at Beijing Jiaotong University and a researcher at the Sustainable Transportation Innovation Center, told China Energy News that carbon footprint seems to have become a means for Europe and the United States to set up barriers for new energy products on the mainland. "They are concerned about the rapid development and dumping of China's new energy technologies and products, and this kind of international competition, if not suppressed, will destroy the relevant industries of the countries concerned." In fact, the mainland new energy product market is mainly domestic, not overseas, let alone in Europe and the United States. At present, the domestic market sales of new energy products in mainland China account for 90% of wind power products, 60% of photovoltaic products, and 87% of electric vehicles, of which wind power products have basically withdrawn from the US market, and the European market accounts for less than 10%. Zhang Na analyzed that in terms of production capacity, Europe and the United States currently account for about 5% of the photovoltaic field, which is basically eliminated; The wind power sector still has a certain competitiveness, but is facing continuous losses; In the field of electric vehicles, there are certain differences between Europe and the United States, Europe is struggling to catch up, and the transformation of traditional American car companies is difficult, and it is more likely to be eliminated. "The West's emphasis on carbon footprint is actually a fear of the rapid development of China's new energy industry." Since the beginning of this year, the United States has frequently raised the mainland's new energy overcapacity, believing that China's export strategy poses a threat to the formation and stability of global supply chains in industries such as solar energy, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries. In this regard, Zhang Na said that from the perspective of the world's response to climate change and vigorously promoting the energy transition, the demand for new energy technologies and products is in the ascendant, and there is no overcapacity problem. "China's new energy products have significant competitive advantages in technology, cost and other competitive advantages in the global market, and Europe and the United States have hyped up dumping the European and American markets regardless of the facts, and its fundamental purpose is to inhibit the development of the mainland's new energy industry."
Text丨Reporter Sunan
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Editor丨Yan Zhiqiang