Wen Yao Miao
Edited by Zhang Cheng
2023 is the hottest year on record in human history.
In the latest report of the World Meteorological Organization, a key sentence has aroused everyone's attention to climate and environmental issues.
With global warming and frequent climate disasters, mankind is facing a huge crisis.
As recently as late November, UN Secretary-General António Guterres visited Antarctica. Along the way, witnessing the impact of climate change on the continent of ice and snow, Antonio Guterres frowned.
The quietly melting iceberg is a warning word. Antarctica, the "sleeping giant", is waking up in the midst of climate chaos.
The impact of such changes is not limited to Antarctica, as Antonio Guterres said, and we live in an interconnected world. Melting sea ice means rising sea levels, which directly jeopardizes the lives and livelihoods of coastal dwellers around the world.
From November 30 to December 12, the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
This year's conference attracted more than 80,000 people from around the world, including global leaders, negotiators, non-governmental organizations, industry leaders and business representatives, making it the largest climate conference to date.
In mitigating the climate crisis and seeking green development, every step forward must overcome many interests and solve many difficulties.
What to do in the face of this grim topic?What can be done?Among Chinese companies, some people have already given their own answers.
Extreme weather has already caused serious losses to many countries.
It was the rainy season, but until December, Iraq was plagued by drought.
At first glance, yellow sand soil has become the background color, and green vegetation is a scarce species, because of the scarcity of rainfall year after year, Iraq has suffered from severe drought for many years.
They could not wait for the "rain", as the soil conditions became worse, the seeds no longer germinated, the leaves of the existing fruit trees began to fall and dry up, and the skills that the farmers relied on for their livelihood were useless. Many people have had to abandon their farmland and move to the periphery of the city to earn a living.
On the other hand, Kenya and neighbouring Somalia and Ethiopia have all been hit by persistent torrential rains and flooding.
In Kenya's Tana River district, a section of the road edge was badly damaged and became potholed.
The road connecting Garissa to the county of the Tana River was also damaged by floods, and people had to make improvised rafts to cross the river using a few tin buckets and a few wooden planks.
Tragedy is happening in such extreme weather. Kenya** said on December 1 that severe flooding caused by heavy rainfall has killed 142 people and displaced about 460,000 residents in the country.
In addition, in the past six months, there have been persistent and widespread forest fires in Canada.
According to data released by the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as of August 31, the cumulative area of fires in Canada has reached a record 1560,000 square kilometres, more than twice the maximum since data became available in 1983, and more than half of the world's land area.
Nature has become moody, and extreme weather such as droughts, floods, torrential rains, wildfires, and strong winds have become frequent, and human life has begun to be affected.
As you can see, the world has come to a crossroads. Sultan Jaber, President of COP28, said.
The problem is also spreading to Asia. According to the State of the Asian Climate Report 2022 released by the World Meteorological Organization, the impact of extreme weather and climate change in Asia is intensifying, and in 2022, floods and droughts alternately occurred in Asia, destroying people's lives and destroying people's livelihoods. Melting ice and glaciers, as well as rising sea levels, bode well for greater socio-economic disruption in the future.
To combat these natural disasters, we must not only take precautions to reduce the adverse effects and risks of climate change, but also start from the source to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avoid further deterioration of the climate.
In June 2022, 17 departments, including the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, jointly issued the National Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change 2035, which provides strategic guidance and basis for adaptation to climate change.
Gree is one of the early companies that responded to national policies, began to pay attention to climate change, and adhered to green development.
At the "China Corner" meeting of the 28th United Nations Climate Conference, Dong Mingzhu, chairman and president of Gree Electric Appliances, mentioned that Gree Electric Appliances put forward the strategy of "making the sky bluer and the earth greener" in 2013, and followed the principles of green and energy-saving innovation and research and development in the development process of more than ten years.
We must always remember that we are related to the fate of mankind and that we are symbiotic with the earth. As a socially responsible enterprise, Gree Electric is willing to create research and development in the field of science and technology and share the results with the world. Dong Mingzhu said.
When extreme weather refreshes the historical record, many companies are still only in the stage of shouting slogans about environmental protection and green.
When there is a conflict between interests and morality, someone must make a choice first.
Dong Mingzhu once mentioned in an interview that as long as this technology is valuable and can promote the progress of the industry and the progress of society, Gree Electric will always insist on doing it. She has emphasized many times that "there is no limit to Gree Electric's investment in R&D, but it will test the investment with technical achievements." ”
And Gree did exactly that. According to the third quarter report of 2023 released by Gree, as of September 30, 2023, Gree's R&D expenses reached 522 billion yuan, an increase of 47 compared with the 2023 interim report2%。
The vigorous investment in scientific research has allowed Gree to lead the green revolution in the manufacturing industry. Today, Gree Electric has 40 "international leading" technologies, of which 38 are related to green energy saving, and its products are exported to more than 190 countries and regions around the world, with a total of more than 110,000 patents.
Air conditioners are one of the first products of Gree to win new breakthroughs in product innovation.
In response to its "dilemma" of high energy consumption and high emissions, Gree has developed high-efficiency and energy-saving products to reduce fossil fuel emissions, which can already achieve resource conservation and environmental protection.
For example, its self-developed "Maglev Direct Expansion Subway Station Intelligent Ventilation and Air Conditioning System" has been applied to the ground.
It is reported that a total of 16 stations of Luoyang Metro have adopted innovative solutions, with a total cost saving of 24960,000 yuan a year, reducing carbon emissions by 2,190 tons a year. According to the 15-year life cycle of the subway, the total cost savings are 37.44 million yuan, and the carbon emissions are reduced by 328493 tons, the effect of energy saving and carbon reduction is remarkable.
On September 11, 2023, the independent innovation and application achievements of this key technology were rated as the international leading level.
According to Dong Mingzhu, after ten years of technology research and development, Gree innovatively integrated photovoltaic and air conditioning products across borders, created the world's first "zero carbon source" air conditioning system, and won the highest award in the 2021 Global Refrigeration Innovation Grand Prix. According to the calculation of the organizing committee, this technology can reduce the carbon emissions of air conditioning by 857%。After the product was launched, consumers in the Middle East bought nearly 10,000 sets of "photovoltaic air conditioners" equipped with this technology, which can reduce carbon emissions by 110,000 tons per year.
At present, the "zero carbon source" system has been implemented in 35 countries and regions around the world, and has entered the special project of China's "four key points".
"Zero Carbon Source" air conditioning technology won the highest international award.
However, Gree did not sacrifice the comfort and health of consumers because it wanted to promote green and sustainable development.
For example, Gree's newly developed "wind does not blow people" air conditioner, on the basis of achieving energy saving of 15%, further launched the distributed air supply technology of "up and down air supply".
In the past, traditional air conditioning refrigeration only had one air outlet, and people were prone to colds when the cold wind blew directlyHeating tends to accumulate in the upper floors of the room, resulting in poor results.
After technical upgrading, Gree adopts shower refrigeration when air conditioning and refrigeration, so that the cold air gradually sinks from the top of the house to the ground, and the situation of cold air blowing directly has been greatly improvedWhen the air conditioner is heating, the carpet heating mode is adopted, and the upper and lower air outlets are sent warm air at the same time, so as to achieve the effect of hot air covering the whole body.
Product upgrading, under the guidance of Gree, everyone has unconsciously become a low-carbon life of action.
With Gree's diversified transformation on the right track, its electrical product categories have covered all categories of household appliances such as refrigerators, kitchen appliances, and environmental appliances in addition to air conditioners.
Pushing them together on the green track is what Gree is doing.
The essence of the refrigerator is brought into full play, and the efficient and intelligent "flower preservation" refrigerator achieves freshness, quality and tasteConsidering that the material of some clothes is special, and the damage to the material of the clothes is relatively large due to too many times of washing, Gree's self-developed heat pump washing and care machine completes the washing, drying and care of clothes at home with only one machineAfter the R&D team researched the rice cooker liner, heat, water content, uniformity and other aspects, the rice steamed from the Gree cast iron rice cooker is not only delicious, but also healthy. These household appliances have a common feature - energy saving and high efficiency, through scientific and technological innovation, Gree's products take the lead in achieving "zero carbon" emissions at the consumer end.
At the same time, Dong Mingzhu said that in the wave of digital transformation of the manufacturing industry, Gree Electric attaches more importance to the power behind the "black light factory". In recent years, Gree Electric has carried out digital and green transformation in management, quality, standards and other links through independent research and development of industrial Internet software, control systems, CNC machine tools, industrial robots and other equipment, and achieved "zero carbon" emissions at the production end.
These achievements have undoubtedly brought a huge surprise to the outside world, and the original product core technology and green environmental protection can be owned at the same time.
In addition to product research and development, Gree also focused part of its energy on waste household appliances.
On the one hand, the business model of "Internet + old household appliances" introduced by it is promoting energy conservation and carbon reduction with practical actions and establishing a long-term green mechanism.
On the other hand, since 2010, Gree Electric has successively established six renewable resources environmental protection treatment plants in Zhuhai, Changsha, Zhengzhou, Shijiazhuang, Wuhu and Tianjin, with a total investment of more than 2 billion yuan.
Users can make an appointment with one click through the WeChat applet and get the best waiting staff for door-to-door service. These old household appliances can be recycled and reused through advanced resource processing equipment and technical dismantling.
By the end of 2022, Gree's self-built renewable resource** system has processed more than 47 million waste electronic products and reduced carbon emissions by about 2.25 million tons. The mutual cooperation of the production end, the consumption end and the first end has enabled Gree to successfully achieve green, circular and sustainable development of the whole cycle of products.
Gree's efforts have also been recognized. In July this year, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment jointly organized experts to evaluate the development of the first batch of household appliance manufacturers' target responsibility system, and the results were announced to show that since the launch of the target responsibility system, Gree, Haier, TCL and other six responsibility production enterprises have actively participated and taken the initiative to better implement the requirements of the "Notice on Encouraging Household Appliance Manufacturers to Carry out the Target Responsibility System Action" and other documents.
Every enterprise should become a healthy cell on the earth in the process of development, jointly care for the earth, and work together for green development, so as to make the world a better place in action. Dong Mingzhu said that in the future, Gree will firmly implement China's green development path, continue to invest in research and development in green production and green manufacturing, become a "green responsibility" in manufacturing enterprises, and contribute Chinese wisdom to the global ecological environment and a better life for mankind.