Beijing (China) 27th May - On the afternoon of May 27, the “High-Level Dialogue on Strengthening China-Africa-UN Cooperation on Climate Change” was held in Beijing. This event, initiated jointly by the Embassy of Kenya and the United Nations Representative Office in China is part of the “China-Africa-UN Transition Partnership Initiative.” African countries invited development partners to coordinate technical and financial support to explore ways to balance food production with climate action to ensure the sustainable low-carbon development of Africa's natural assets, thereby contributing to global decarbonization. James, President of MEA&CA region, LONGi Green Technology Co., Ltd., participated in the dialogue as an invited business representative.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), there are about 4.7 billion hectares of land available for agriculture globally, of which about 1.7 billion hectares, or 36 %, are in Africa. Climate change and food and nutrition insecurity are two of the greatest challenges of our time. Currently, the global agri-food system accounts for one-third of total emissions, is a major source of methane emissions and biodiversity loss, and consumes about 70 % of fresh water. Without significant climate mitigation action by the agri-food sector, the goals of the Paris Agreement will not be met. To address these challenges, the concept of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) has emerged as a holistic approach to tackling climate change, achieving food security and promoting sustainable development. The CSA aims to achieve three main objectives: to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes; Adapting to and building capacity to respond to climate change; Reduce and/or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions wherever possible.
James explained at the meeting that over the past decade, continuous technological innovation in the industry has reduced the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) by 90%, from ten cents to about two or three cents per kilowatt-hour. In regions with abundant sunlight, such as Africa, the LCOE can even drop to one to two cents. When applying agricultural technology in Africa, photovoltaic (PV) power can provide cheap and clean electricity, ensuring rapid agricultural development while reducing and/or eliminating greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, promoting green power is crucial for developing climate-smart agriculture in Africa. He further pointed out that innovation leads to the future, and continuous innovation is essential to sustainably lower PV LCOE. LONGi’s newly released Hi-MO 9 product in Madrid, Spain, boasts a module efficiency of 24.4%. This can increase the full life-cycle power generation of power plants by 6.5%-8% on the same land area, significantly contributing to global low-carbon development. Solar power, as the cheapest form of clean energy today, garnered consensus among several African ambassadors and organization representatives at the event. They agreed that developing low-carbon agriculture and solar power in Africa is of paramount importance.
Being committed to the mission of making the best of solar energy to build a green world, LONGi will continue to drive technical innovation, to provide customized products and solutions for Africa's agricultural development, and to support the green and sustainable development of African agriculture, contributing to building a zero-carbon, green Earth.
About LONGi
Founded in 2000, LONGi is committed to being the world’s leading solar technology company, focusing on customer-driven value creation for full scenario energy transformation.
Under its mission of 'making the best of solar energy to build a green world', LONGi has dedicated itself to technology innovation and established five business sectors, covering mono silicon wafers cells and modules, commercial & industrial distributed solar solutions, green energy solutions and hydrogen equipment. The company has honed its capabilities to provide green energy and has more recently, also embraced green hydrogen products and solutions to support global zero carbon development. www.longi.com