China.com commentator Leshui.
Recently, it has been reported that due to the crisis of suspension and closure of many European photovoltaic companies, the EU is preparing an anti-dumping investigation against Chinese photovoltaic products. The ** said that after a large number of Chinese photovoltaic products entered the European market, it posed a serious "threat" to the production of solar panels in Europe. Therefore, the EU intends to use the anti-dumping investigation against China to build a "small courtyard and high wall" in the new energy industry to protect the market competitiveness of local enterprises.
China-EU economic and trade cooperation has always been premised on mutual benefit and win-win results. The export of China's photovoltaic products to Europe can not only help Europe's own energy structure transformation, but also contribute to the growth and expansion of China's new energy industry, which is of great significance for China and the EU to jointly promote the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The EU should not look at the new energy between China and the EU through the colored glasses of a "zero-sum game", let alone weaken the ties of cooperation between the two sides under the pretext of "de-risking".
In recent years, as more and more countries have begun to pay attention to the development of renewable energy, the new energy industry has increasingly become a sunrise industry favored by all countries. According to the International Energy Agency, by 2030, the annual output value of the global clean energy technology industry will reach 650 billion US dollars, and the total output value of green industries such as wind turbines, photovoltaic panels, and lithium batteries will reach 27 trillion US dollars, accounting for 16% of global GDP3%。Due to the low self-sufficiency rate of traditional energy sources and high dependence on foreign countries, Europe attaches more importance to the transformation of its own energy structure. In 2022, the EU's photovoltaic and wind power generation surpassed natural gas for the first time, reaching a record high of 22% of total electricity generation. In March last year, the European Union also set a target to increase the share of renewable energy in total final energy consumption from the current 32% to 42% by 20305%。
Compared with the ambitious energy transition plan, the EU's own new energy capacity is seriously insufficient. According to statistics, European companies account for only 11% of the global solar polysilicon market, 1% of the solar cell market, and 3% of the photovoltaic module market. Moreover, in the foreseeable future, Europe's new energy production capacity will not increase significantly. At the same time, China, the world's largest solar energy producer, produces about 75% of the world's solar cells and 70% of its solar modules. According to data released by the US Department of Energy, in 2022, Chinese products accounted for more than 80% of the world's PV panel production capacity, while there were only nine PV manufacturers in the EU. China's photovoltaic industry has a complete chain and incomparable capacity and cost advantages, which is enough to fill the huge gap in the European new energy market. China and the EU are highly complementary in the field of new energy and should have a broad space for cooperation, but the normal economic and trade relations between the two sides have been frequently interfered with by European protectionism and political bias.
As early as 2013, the EU implemented anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures on China's photovoltaic products. In recent years, as the EU has strengthened its sense of competition against China, there have been murmurs against "over-dependence" on China. In 2019, the EU released its "China Strategic Outlook" report, which for the first time positioned China as an "economic competitor, institutional rival and partner". After the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis, the European Union, driven by a strong sense of "anxiety", once again targeted China's photovoltaic products, and even advocated to "regain the industrial base and market that China has stolen". In January last year, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen publicly linked the "de-risking" of the EU's new energy industry to the reduction of imports of Chinese photovoltaic products at the Davos forum. All kinds of signs cannot help but worry that the EU is moving further and further down the road of politicizing economic and trade issues.
In the past 20 years, with the deepening of economic globalization, the global cost of renewable energy has continued to decline. However, if the EU blindly pursues the best protectionist policy, it may lead to the fragmentation of the global new energy industry chain, resulting in a lose-lose situation for both China and Europe. McKinsey, a U.S. consulting firm, pointed out in a recent report that in 2022, the number of PV modules and wind turbines in Europe will be 25%-30% higher than in 2020. European News ** "European Dynamics" also said that due to Europe's restrictions on China's new energy products, Europe may be difficult to complete the goal of achieving "carbon neutrality" by 2050.
"Zero-sum game" is not the background color of China-EU relations. China and the EU have broad space for cooperation in the economic and trade fields, and on the international stage, both China and the EU are staunch advocates of multilateralism and an important force in promoting the development of a multipolar world. Against the backdrop of economic globalization and climate change, China and the EU should work together to make due contributions to the green transformation of the global energy structure, and should not let political noises such as "de-risking" with China affect the overall situation of China-EU friendship and cooperation.
Editor: Jiang Xinyu, Zhang Yanling, Cai Xiaojuan.