Yingli Green Energy (Yingli Solar) has gone beyond its targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by the end of 2013 as part of its membership commitments in the World Wide Fun for Nature ("WWF") Climate Savers program, according to internal inspections report announced earlier this month.
Initiated by WWF in 1999, Climate Savers is a global leadership platform which positions multinational corporations at the forefront of the low-carbon economy. In May 2011, Yingli and WWF signed the Letter of Intent to join the Climate Savers program. After assessment of energy consumption and consultation, the Company set its industry-leading goals for GHG reductions through 2015, based on its GHG emissions level in 2010.
In January 2013, Yingli officially became the first Chinese company and the first PV manufacturer to join the Climate Savers program. In May 2014, the Company began internal inspections to ensure it met its aggressive emission reduction targets. Using 2010 GHG emissions as a baseline, the inspection results demonstrated that Yingli:
- Decreased its GHG emissions intensity per MW of PV module production by approximately 22% in 2013, as compared to its initial target to reduce emissions intensity by 13% by the end of 2015;
- Decreased GHG emissions from purchased goods and services per MW of PV modules production by approximately 12%, as compared to its initial target to reduce emissions by 7%;
- Decreased its GHG emissions from upstream transportation by approximately 17%, as compared to its initial target to reduce emissions by 10%.
In addition, Yingli has actively invested in PV power projects and installed solar power systems to power its PV module manufacturing facilities, including the plants in Baoding Headquarters, Tianjin, and Hengshui, parking lot, as well as other buildings, in order to increase the share of renewable electricity in its total power consumption. By the end of 2013, PV projects Yingli has invested in are estimated to generate approximately 167.85 GWh of clean electricity annually and the solar energy systems installed on its facilities could generate 39.3 GWh of electricity annually, equivalent to 4.05% of its total power consumption in 2013. As part of its membership in Climate Savers initiatives, Yingli also targeted for renewable energy to account for at least 4% of the total energy comsuption in the production of its PV modules by the end of 2015.
To achieve these results, the Yingli worked with TUV to establish its GHG Managing System as a platform to monitor and control GHG emissions and energy consumption across all of its operations. Yingli also improved energy utilization throughout its entire production chain and launched "Green Supplier Action" program, which requires its leading suppliers to adopt ambitious energy efficiency and GHG reduction commitments, and made energy consumption levels and GHG emissions important criteria in supplies qualification.In addition, Yingli developed an comprehensive multi-year plan related specifically to logistics in order to reduce GHG emissions during the transportation of PV modules and raw materials.
Yingli also joined hands with the China National Institute of Standardization, along with other leading PV companies, to compile The Cleaner Production Evaluation Indicator System of Photovoltaic Solar Cells. Its goal is to promote green production methods across the entire PV industry, with the goal of increasing the competitiveness of China's PV industry.
"As the first member company of WWF Climate Savers Programme in China, Yingli has successfully gone beyond its emission reduction targetss, and shows its leadership through practical actions. WWF will continue to partner with Chinese companies to address climate change, and to promote more companies to be leaders of the low- carbon economy," said Ms. Winnie Lu, Climate & Energy Program Director of WWF.
