Climate change is a major challenge facing humanity in the 21st century, and the 2015 Paris Agreement proposes to limit the increase in global average temperature to less than 2°C compared with pre-industrial times, and strive to limit it to 1.5°C. According to the International Energy Agency, a further 35% reduction in carbon emissions is needed to meet the 2°C target.
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Obviously, "carbon neutrality" is the only direction in the future. According to a September 2019 report by the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 60 countries around the world have pledged to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050 or even earlier.
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China is the world's largest carbon emitter, and the Central Economic Work Conference will do a good job in "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality" as one of the eight key tasks in 2021, requiring the formulation of an action plan for carbon emission peaking before 2030, supporting qualified localities to take the lead in peaking, and accelerating the adjustment and optimization of industrial structure and energy structure.
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For the home appliance industry, it has the ability and responsibility to participate in the implementation of this plan. Household appliances are the second largest source of energy consumption for residents, accounting for more than 20% of total residential energy consumption (after heating), and this share has been growing over the past few decades. Moreover, up to 30% of residents' carbon emissions come from household appliances.
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As an engineer in the field of home appliances, Li Jinbo, a deputy to the National People's Congress and director of Midea's Home Air Conditioning Innovation Center, mainly put forward relevant suggestions on the energy development, recycling system and industrial Internet data of the home appliance industry this year.
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He believes that the implementation of "carbon labeling", which is manifested in improving production efficiency, reducing energy consumption, and producing more energy-saving products, can not only better implement the national strategy of "carbon peak and carbon neutrality" for enterprises and industries, but also boost the scientific and technological level of enterprises on the other hand, and achieve high-quality development in an all-round way.
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Establish a "carbon label" for China's home appliances
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According to statistics, the annual production of major household appliances in the world is about 800 million units, of which 420 million units are made in China, accounting for 56% of the total. In particular, refrigerators and air conditioners account for nearly 80%, making them a veritable home appliance manufacturing power and consumer powerhouse. Therefore, it is an inevitable trend in the home appliance industry to design and produce "green home appliances" and realize "green manufacturing".
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At present, China has established a sound energy efficiency labeling regulations and enforcement system, which has successfully slowed down the growth momentum of household and office products in terms of electricity and natural gas consumption, and reduced carbon dioxide emissions. Taking air conditioning as an example, the new energy efficiency standards officially implemented on July 1 last year unify the standard system of fixed-frequency air conditioners and inverter air conditioners, and further improve the indicators of each energy efficiency level.
Cheng Jianhong, a researcher at the China Institute of Standardization, once predicted that the implementation of the new version of the air conditioning energy efficiency standard will make the current air conditioning market elimination rate reach 45%, and the energy efficiency will increase by 14% in 2020 and 30% by 2022. This process will eliminate 99% of the fixed-speed air conditioner models and 70% of the inverter air conditioner models on the market today.
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However, energy efficiency labels are only related to indirect greenhouse gas emissions from the use of household appliances, and cannot cover direct greenhouse gas emissions from production and recycling processes. Therefore, Li Jinbo suggested that it is necessary to establish more comprehensive and scientific evaluation standards and labels for greenhouse gas emissions of household appliances, promote the development of environmentally friendly and efficient household appliance technology and the market sales of products, and help the implementation of the national strategy of "carbon peak and carbon neutrality".
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"China's home appliances in the world from the original imitation to the current independent innovation, in the field of energy efficiency, intelligent manufacturing and other fields have run in the forefront of the world." Li Jinbo believes that the household appliance industry now has the conditions to take the lead in realizing low-carbon development, and the next step is to promote the low-carbon development of the household appliance industry from three specific measures: improving the "carbon labeling" regulations, establishing carbon emission evaluation standards for China's household appliances, and establishing "carbon labeling" for China's household appliances.
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First of all, from the legal perspective, the main guiding document for the operation of China's carbon labeling system is the Ministry of Ecology and Environment's "Interim Measures for the Management of the Use of Low-carbon Product Labeling in China's Environmental Labeling", and the "Interim Measures for the Management of Low-carbon Product Certification" issued by the National Development and Reform Commission. Li Jinbo suggested referring to the existing relevant international laws and regulations, improving the "Climate Change Law" and "Environmental Protection Law", and establishing a "carbon labeling" system for Chinese products.
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Secondly, internal carbon emissions cover all links in the whole chain such as production, transportation, sales, use, and recycling, and will also have an impact on the supply chain and international trade, and may even become a trade barrier. The establishment of transparent and scientific evaluation standards for carbon emissions of household appliances is the basis for the implementation of the "carbon labeling" system to achieve the dual effects of low-carbon development and avoidance of carbon barriers. Li Jinbo believes that on the basis of existing international standards such as ISO14067, we can comprehensively consider the direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions of products, and establish a calculation system and standards for household appliances suitable for China's national conditions as soon as possible.
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He further pointed out that the existing low-carbon product labels of China's environmental labels only have carbon emission reduction labels and avoid the disclosure of their true carbon emission values, so they cannot be quantified, and consumers generally lack awareness of such labels, which have not attracted the attention of consumers such as energy efficiency labels. Therefore, it is recommended to learn from the existing energy efficiency labels, refer to or standardize the international environmental labeling standard system, set the emission standard classification of different products, mark the percentage of carbon emissions and the standard value, and gradually screen out the types of products that need to be mandatory to use carbon labeling, so as to guide household appliances to achieve low-carbonization.
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Li Jinbo believes that taking the lead in establishing a "carbon labeling" system in the home appliance industry is both a traction and a force for enterprises. "On the one hand, it can lead everyone to improve scientific and technological investment to make better products, so that consumers can have a better experience, so that the country has a better foothold in carbon emissions." On the other hand, "if you don't invest, there is no scientific and technological progress, and there is no progress, consumers may not buy your products in the end, and backward production capacity and technology can be eliminated through standards, forcing everyone to progress in new technologies." ”
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Taking Midea Group as an example, in recent years, Midea has strived to save energy and reduce consumption in the design, production and use of products through new technologies such as the "T+3" new model and 5G + industrial Internet. For example, after the transformation of the Nansha factory in Guangzhou through the industrial Internet, the labor production efficiency has increased by 28%, the unit cost has been reduced by 14%, and the order delivery time has been shortened by 56%.
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Li Jinbo believes that the implementation of "carbon labeling" by enterprises is manifested in improving production efficiency, reducing energy consumption, and producing more energy-saving products, which will promote the high-quality development of the industry and allow enterprises to actively adapt to and embrace the national strategy.
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Improve the recycling system for large-scale household waste products
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Following on from the first suggestion, Li Jinbo also paid attention to the current problem of recycling large household waste. He listed a set of data to reporters: In 2018, the total social ownership of China's major household appliances was about 2.01 billion units, including 440 million refrigerators, 430 million washing machines, 520 million air conditioners, 370 million water heaters, and 250 million range hoods.
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According to the "Safe Service Life of Household Appliances" series of standards, it is estimated that 180 million household appliances will reach the safe service life in 2020 and need to be replaced in a timely manner. Among them: more than 37 million washing machines, more than 52 million air conditioners, more than 58 million refrigerators, more than 18 million electric water heaters, and more than 14 million range hoods. Obviously, China's major appliance market has entered the stage of stock competition, and the installation of new products needs to be recycled and disposed of at the same time.
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"However, from the perspective of household appliance recycling, about 80% of the current recycling channels of waste household appliances in China come from social recycling, with low recycling levels, non-standard management, and lack of necessary infrastructure. Li Jinbo told reporters that the same problems as large household appliances include furniture (mattresses, sofas, bookcases, etc.), ceramic sanitary ware and other large household products.
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According to the definition of bulky garbage in GB/T 25175-2010 "Technical Requirements for the Collection and Utilization of Bulky Waste", bulky garbage refers to waste products (such as waste furniture) and various waste household appliances and electronic products that weigh more than 5kg or have a volume of more than 0.2m3 or a length of more than 1m, and need to be dismantled for reuse or disposal, which can be divided into three categories: furniture, household appliances and electronic products, and other bulky waste.
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With the improvement of residents' living standards, the demand for the integrated replacement of household appliances and furniture products is increasing. However, due to the large volume and heavy weight of these large-scale waste products, and the lack of convenient recycling points, these large-scale household waste products are either discarded at will or dismantled by illegal dismantling points, resulting in waste of resources and environmental pollution.
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Li Jinbo took the home appliance industry as an example, home appliance manufacturers have tried to recycle waste household appliances through "reverse logistics" and other methods since 2016, but due to the difficulty of applying for qualifications and the high cost of recycling, it is impossible to maintain it for a long time by relying solely on market-oriented operations. On the other hand, developed countries such as Germany, France, South Korea, and Japan currently rely on the government to classify and recycle and manage large household waste products.
Therefore, Li Jinbo believes that China urgently needs to build an infrastructure covering the recycling of large household waste products such as household appliances and furniture, and improve and improve the recycling system of large household waste products.
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Specifically, we can start from five aspects: with local governments as the main body, build storage infrastructure for large-scale household waste products; Strengthen the standardized management of waste product recyclers in the region with the region as a unit; Formulate normative documents to clearly prohibit the random discarding of large household waste products; Intensify efforts to carry out publicity and reminder activities on the safe service life of household appliances; and timely revise and improve the Regulations on the Recycling and Disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products.
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Li Jinbo particularly emphasized that it is necessary to build a recycling and treatment system for large-scale household waste products with Chinese characteristics, with "local governments as the main body of management, consumers regulating waste, and relevant parties taking their own responsibilities". He further explained that "Chinese characteristics" are embodied in the new national system, which can be arranged by the government and give full play to the power of industry associations, such as the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, which actively promotes the establishment and regulation of the household appliance recycling market.
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"Public welfare is reflected in the fact that if some chemicals in household appliances are not properly disposed of, they will cause harm to the natural ecological environment and even human health." In Li Jinbo's view, it is imperative to build a "recycling system for large-scale household waste products", which not only requires the leadership and promotion of the government, but also actively guides enterprises to actively participate in reducing the high cost of government allocation of resources.
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(Author: Southern Finance and Economics Omnimedia Group National Two Sessions Reporting Group, Ye Bihua Editor: Li Qingyu, Editor Wang Bo)