As the RE100 initiative continues to expand around the world, LONGi is joining up with fellow members to promote 100% renewable electricity consumption in China. RE100 members LONGi, Envision, and Sungrow—in partnership with the Renewable Energy Professional Committee of China Energy Research Association and the Photovoltaic Special Committee of China Green Supply Chain Alliance—have jointly initiated and signed the ‘RE100 China Pathfinder Pledge’. The Pledge appeals for more Chinese companies to join the global RE100 initiative and switch to 100% renewable power, thereby promoting China's clean energy revolution and help mitigate the global climate crisis.
LONGi launches the Pledge at the recent SNEC 2020 in Shanghai — one of the key solar PV exhibitions in Asia
Powering a clean energy future
As some of the first companies to join RE100 in China, LONGi, Envision, and Sungrow are forging a path for other large, influential Chinese companies to follow. The Pledge sets out the group’s intention to share best practices and amplify the following message: companies wanting to buy 100% renewable power will benefit from an investor-friendly environment in China.
The Pledge also calls on policymakers to clarify the goals of the clean energy transition in China's 14th Five-Year Plan. This is to ensure that renewable energy has a greater role in the country's energy mix, spur innovation, and various market players are enabled to participate.
An increase in corporate demand for clean energy will help China achieve its climate goals ahead of schedule, enabling the country to make greater contributions to global climate governance.
LONGi leading the way
With the biggest stock market value among solar technology peers, LONGi seeks to reduce the cost of solar power generation through technological progress; having long focused on the main photovoltaic business, continuously increased its technological R&D, and promoted the clean energy transition. “Our intention and dream is to build a beautiful world that uses clean energy and completely solve the problem of global warming,” says Li Zhenguo, Founder & President of LONGi. He continues, “LONGi also hopes to use its own exploration to provide more companies with referable goals.
In the future, we will not only strictly pursue our commitments and achieve the goal of 100% clean energy, but also continue promoting the wider application of clean energy in the whole society.” Mr. Xie Zhenhua—Special Advisor on Climate Change Affairs of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of People’s Republic of China and President of Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Tsinghua University—affirmed LONGi’s performance, and pointed out that China is boosting their steps to reduce emissions and make greater contributions to global climate action.
During the time of the Paris Agreement, the U.S. House of Representatives proposed to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050, while the European Union hopes to be carbon neutral by 2040. They both proposed the goal of continuing to cooperate with China in hope that the country will be more vigorous.
As long as the goal is set, the technology will develop towards the goal. To achieve a larger proportion of renewable energy, the business community should be confident that LONGi will use various opportunities to talk about the changes in the photovoltaic industry and what LONGi has done.
Looking ahead
From a global perspective, innovation is highly active, new technologies continue to appear, and renewable energy is replacing fossil fuels at speed.
A growing number of leading multinational companies around the world are following sustainable growth strategies. China, as the world’s largest energy producer and consumer, owns the world’s largest installation of power generation from renewable energies.
But the overall energy mix still retains a significant proportion of fossil fuels. LONGi firmly believes that the combination of photovoltaic technology and energy storage will become the ultimate solution. Science shows we need to halve global GHG emissions by 2030 to keep our global temperature rise below 1.5˚C, and reach net zero emissions by 2050. The 2020s will be a crucial decade for climate action and a crucial decade for China to promote its clean energy revolution. That’s why we're proud to be a Platinum Sponsor this year’s Climate Week NYC.