The carbon footprint of photovoltaic module products has attracted more and more attention both in China as well as abroad. Thus, the Jiangsu Project has supported the development of a carbon neutrality roadmap for the photovoltaic industry chain. On August 30, the final Experts Appraisal Workshop was held in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province.
Experts Appraisal Workshop on Carbon Neutrality Roadmap for Photovoltaic Industry Chain in Jiangsu Province
The carbon footprint of photovoltaic module products has attracted increasing attention both in China as well as abroad. Thus, the Jiangsu Project has supported the development of a carbon neutrality roadmap for the photovoltaic industry chain in Jiangsu Province. Thereby, over the past almost two years, the project supported various aspects such as the recycling of photovoltaic modules as well as product carbon footprint accounting. The Jiangsu cooperated with the Credit Builder Certification Wuxi (CBC), a professional certification technical service platform of Wuxi Institute of Inspection, Testing and Certification.
Since 2021, a number of research reports have been published by the project:
- PV Recycle Business Model Research
- Policy Recommendations in the Field of PV Recycling
- Contribution of PV Recycling to the Low-carbon Development and Early Peaking of Jiangsu Province
- Product Category Rules of Product Carbon Footprint in PV Industry
- Waste Photovoltaic Modules Grading Evaluation Standard
- List of Green Services in the Full Life Cycle of PV
Complete product carbon footprint accounting has strict standards, relying on third-party institutions for accounting services. The volume of data needed as well as the costs are quite high, making this task rather daunting for most enterprises. Particularly in China, with its small and medium-sized photovoltaic module companies, the willingness to provide the product carbon footprint is limited without direct official requirements. In order to make it easier for enterprises to calculate and gather the needed data the Jiangsu Project supported the development and launch of an online life-cycle carbon footprint estimation tool for photovoltaic modules (please visit the platform here). Furthermore, the online platform offers easily understandable information on the life cycle concept of carbon footprint, which can also be used for workshops.
Another important aspect is the recycling of photovoltaic modules. On August 30, 2022, an Experts Appraisal Workshop took place to review and provide feedback on another study currently being conducted. The study “Construction of Life Cycle Carbon Emission Reduction and Recycling System of Photovoltaic Industrial Chain in Jiangsu Province” looks at resource recycling and improving resource utilization efficiency. During the workshop, the expert group emphasized that photovoltaic recycling is the last link in the photovoltaic industry chain and is regarded as the “last kilometer” of the entire photovoltaic green industry chain. Also the online platform seeks to promote circularity by providing a simple assessment of recycling possibilities to photovoltaic module enterprises.
