This article**: Times Business School Author: Chen Lina.
* |Times Business School.
Author |Lina Chen.
Edit |Chen Jiaxin.
Cities are the most advanced form of human group life, and building a zero-carbon city should become a consensus among many parties. In early November, Wu Yin, former deputy director of the National Energy Administration, mentioned in a public speech.
A zero-carbon city is an environmentally friendly city that minimizes greenhouse gas emissions, and a "zero-carbon city" is achieved by making each system of the city functional, that is, through "zero-carbon transportation", "zero-carbon buildings", "zero-carbon energy" and "zero-carbon homes", and ultimately creating a "zero-carbon city". With the proposal of the "dual carbon" goal and the promotion of ESG concept, zero-carbon cities have gradually become the direction of China's future urban renewal and development.
In view of this popular concept and the development status of ESG in China, on December 2, Times Business School conducted an exclusive interview with Dr. Zhang Yalong, Executive Dean of Shenzhen Institute of Sustainable Development, Dean of Science and Technology Innovation Institute of Sustainable Development, and Dean of Zero Carbon College.
According to reports, Zhang Yalong's main research areas include SDGS (Sustainable Development Goals) based urban sustainable development system, zero-carbon urban planning and design, carbon account and carbon asset management, multi-energy complementation, virtual power plant and distributed energy storage, etc., he is one of the earliest researchers and advocates of China's "global sustainable development agenda".
After years of research, Zhang Yalong believes that the construction of zero-carbon cities is imminent, and with the rapid development of digital technology, the vision of "zero-carbon cities" is expected to usher in a major breakthrough. There are two main pathways: carbon neutrality, which is to offset urban carbon emissions by planting trees or purchasing carbon credits to achieve zero carbon;The other requires cities to rely entirely on renewable energy to achieve true zero carbon emissions through urban functions such as "zero-carbon transportation", "zero-carbon buildings", "zero-carbon energy" and "zero-carbon homes".
The response speed of leading enterprises determines the ESG transformation process of the supply chain
How many companies in China are truly ESG-recognisant?How much is there to cater to external needs?In Zhang Yalong's view, ESG is a foreign product after all, and the landing of imported products needs a processSome of them are service enterprises, which are still in a wait-and-see attitude, depending on the actions of industry leaders. Therefore, the first task of leading enterprises is to change the industrial chain, because only by changing the first chain can the whole industry chain participate in ESG practice, otherwise the ESG concept cannot be realized.
Today, climate issues are becoming more and more prominent in ESG reporting. According to Zhang, this is because ESG is the only link between business and climate change. Zhang Yalong emphasized that ESG has a crucial impact on the industrial chain, but this impact will take at least 3 to 5 years to digest before the industry can be reshaped. In this process, the response speed of the leading enterprises will determine the maturity of the industrial chain.
As for the role of the company, Zhang Yalong believes that the company should think about the possible risks earlier than the enterprise, such as the crisis caused by industrial change, the industrial reshaping caused by policy changes, etc.
In addition, Zhang Yalong believes that there are two things that need to be done: first, to give enterprises some trend guidance. For example, the ESG rating of companies in the industry ranks highest;How to digest the pressure of carbon emission reduction transmitted from the upstream of the industrial chain, and what will happen in the future if it is not digested now. Second, we should not only tell companies that ESG is important, but also help companies build a model to solve problems at the lowest cost.
There are two points of view in the market that are debated in the process of corporate ESG practice. One view is that ESG, as a part of green finance, is from the perspective of risk control, focusing on how to improve the profitability of enterprisesAnother point of view is from the perspective of sustainable development, focusing on how societies can develop together. When and how can the interests of society and business be balanced in ESG?It's still a challenge.
Reaching this balance will be very fast, very fast," Zhang Yalong said firmly, "but this also requires the rebuilding of the market ecology, which is very critical for ecological enterprises." **We must build a new ecology that matches the ESG of the enterprise, and of course, this ecology must include green development. Zhang Yalong added.
The green economy can lead to incremental markets and drive ESG practices
The development of green economy has played a role in mitigating climate change, and the development of green economy has become a top priority, so as an expert in related fields, how does Zhang Yalong view the importance of the country's development of green economy?
First of all, Zhang Yalong believes that the green economy is "green" and "economy", which cannot be separated. The most desired outcome of the development of the green economy is the prosperity of green communities, green factories and green parks, and after these industries are strong, the industries of the whole city will be "dyed green".
To achieve the above goals, Zhang Yalong believes that it is necessary to rely on economic means, "It is not the production of cups and jars that can be called green." If a city wants to be green, it must use economic means. Behind the economic means is a set of market system, who will produce convenient products, who will buy them after they are produced, who will use them after they are bought, and who will collect them after they are used up. Through economic means, the upstream and downstream industrial chains will be rolled, and the economic benefits of the entire industrial chain will be extended. The development of the above green economic chain requires the state to introduce policies to support relevant supporting industries."
Zhang Yalong also believes that the "green" economy is good enough, and only the economic industries with greater demand for "green" such as manufacturing and service industries can develop and grow. The development of the green economy is slow, so China's industry will only stay in the stock market. In the past, China's market had enough stock for enterprises to develop, but with the maturity of industrial technology, there is now little space for stock, so the focus now is on developing incremental markets, and green economy can bring incremental markets.
In Zhang Yalong's view, from the perspective of development and reform, the importance of China's green economy can almost be equated with ESG. At present, some companies are thinking about whether ESG practices should focus on the green economy, Zhang Yalong believes that the impact of the green economy is manifested in all aspects, and the development of the green economy is not a question of whether to do it, but a question of how fast or slow it is.
ESG digitalization is an important starting point for urban carbon reduction
In addition to the green economy, Zhang Yalong believes that digitalization also has a profound impact on promoting ESG practices.
In Zhang Yalong's view, China is the world's largest carbon emitter, and if a carbon database can be established, China will have the world's most abundant carbon data resources, and data resources will drive digitalization.
At present, China's digital level is already the world's leading, and we have the most solid data foundation. It has the advantage of data and is the largest carbon emitter, and if carbon-based digitalization finally forms a new set of rules or solutions, other countries can only look at it. Zhang Yalong said.
Regarding the current digital transformation of China's industries and what stage it is in, Zhang Yalong replied that China's digitalization is already in a very mature stage. The construction of smart cities under the digital city needs to be supported by large models, and from the perspective of the best people, it is now very perfect.
Zhang Yalong believes that China's digitalization has had three positive impacts:
First, the source is fast. For example, if there is a problem in the consumption process of consumers, the company can find out what links cause it by adjusting the data.
Second, cities are safer. Zhang Yalong's research found that the development of AI and security technology has significantly reduced social criminal cases, which is a disruptive change brought by digitalization to urban governance.
Third, the governance of urban life is more convenient. For example, the gas pipeline network in the city, whether it is in a building, underground, or on a mountain, can all realize digital drone cruise, which makes the governance of a city more convenient.
Zhang Yalong firmly believes: "Carbon reduction must be supported by digitalization, and without digitalization, carbon reduction cannot be achieved." ”
Digitalization is also an important engine for building zero-carbon cities. Zhang Yalong pointed out that "what does 100 tons of carbon have to do with my personal daily carbon emissions, it is not yet calculated, but once it is calculated, it will be different, and the formulation of policies will be more precise and can achieve the role of standardized governance."
Zhang Yalong further explained that digitalization will become an important carbon reduction tool and a starting point for urban governance. The establishment of a carbon ledger (the full name of the "carbon emission reduction digital ledger", also known as the personal carbon ledger) can find out the "carbon emission characteristics" from individuals to enterprises, enterprises to industries, and even the entire country.
Digitalization is the compass in the blue ocean of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, which allows more companies swimming in the sea to know what is right. The green economy, low-carbon economy, the accuracy of enterprise development, and the direction of product research and development all rely on digital carbon reduction to provide reference. Zhang Yalong said.
**Accurate calculation of chain carbon emissions is still difficult
So, in what direction will the digitalization of carbon emissions develop in the future?Zhang Yalong believes that the future trend is to build a set of behavioral digital systems, which are based on digital infrastructure capabilities and require the continuous introduction and accumulation of numbers, which is expected to take 3 to 5 years.
Therefore, it is imperative to educate the masses about the market so that they can do more to reduce their carbon emissions, and change means digital integration. Zhang Yalong said.
In Zhang Yalong's view, after the operation of the system of carbon emission digitalization, the data logic will be more perfect, and then the optimization method can be officially promoted by the first. In the future, we will form a truly useful method through operation, leverage the capital market through methodology, and form a real closed loop of transactions.
Finally, talking about the difficulties in the digitalization of carbon emissions, Zhang Yalong said that it is necessary to consider the characteristics of carbon emissions in China's current society. Due to process limitations, the current industrial carbon emissions remain high, which is the first difficulty;The second difficulty is that the digital model of the whole life cycle is not accurate enough, from raw materials to the final waste, the digital monitoring ability of the whole life cycle is still very weak, and the core problem is that the carbon emissions of the first chain are difficult to calculate.
From the dialogue with Zhang Yalong, we can feel that the current development of China's carbon emission chain transmission mechanism is very difficult, and this is the key to carbon reduction in the industry. Zhang Yalong said that the industry's best ability cannot meet the carbon reduction target, and enterprises are helpless. However, once a company achieves carbon reduction, other companies in the industry will respond quickly, and those that do not will be eliminated.
Carbon reduction will lead to a revolution in the industrial chain. Zhang Yalong finally concluded.
Zhang Yalong's personal profile].
Zhang Yalong, Ph.D., is the Executive Chairman of the Dual Carbon Working Committee of the China Association for the Promotion of International Economic and Technical Cooperation, the Dean of the Zero Carbon College, the Executive Dean of the Shenzhen Institute of Sustainable Development, the Dean of the Institute of Sustainable Development of Science and Technology, and the President of the Shanxi Society for Sustainable Development. He is an external tutor of the University of Chinese Hong Kong (Shenzhen), a Tencent entrepreneurship mentor, a distinguished expert of the China Corporate Social Responsibility Research Center of Southern Weekly, an expert of the Carbon Neutrality Committee, a director of the Jinan University-Southern Weekly Enterprise Sustainable Development Research Center, a member of the Shenzhen International Think Tank for Sustainable Development, the director of the CEIBS-Shenzhen Sustainable Development Innovation Center, an expert of the think tank of the United Nations Development Programme (China), a member of the PRME (China) Committee, and the honorary title of "Top Ten Young Leaders of Shenzhen".
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