GCL Chairman Zhu Gongshan Shares Green Development Achievements at 11th China-Japan Comprehensive Forum on Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection
GCL Chairman Zhu Gongshan, the only representative invited from China’s private sector, attended and addressed the 11th China-Japan Comprehensive Forum on Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection on December 24,2017 in Tokyo.
The event was co-sponsored by China’s National Development and Reform Commission, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, China’s embassy in Japan, the Japanese Ministry of Trade, Economy, and Industry, and the Japan-China Economic Association. Speeches were given by Vice Chairman Zhang Yong of the National Development and Reform Commission, Vice Minister of Commerce Gao Yan, Liu Shaobin of the Chinese embassy in Japan, Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Hiroshige Seko, Minister of the Environment Masaharu Nakagawa, Parliamentary Vice-Secretary for Trade, Economy, and Industry Daisaku Hiraki, and Chairman Shoji Muneoka of the Japan-China Economic Association.
Zhang Yong spoke on China’s efforts in recent years to conserve energy and reduce emissions, his nation’s achievements related to development in the energy-conservation and environmental-protection industries, the essence of the 19th National Congress of the CPC, and strategies for ecological progress. He proposed initiatives for China and Japan to pragmatically work together on energy conservation and environmental protection while continuing to jointly hold related forums. He further emphasized the next focal step of propelling the four aspects of advancing green development, diligence in solving prominent environmental problems, becoming more aggressive in ecosystem protection, and intensifying system and legal restrictions.
Upon taking the podium, Zhu Gongshan stated that GCL is a green energy enterprise focusing on clean, new energy, which has maintained its position as one of the top three of the World’s Top 500 New Energy Enterprises for several years and is the top enterprise in the Chinese new energy industry. As the largest global supplier of PV materials, GCL has supplied about one-fourth of the world’s polysilicon products and one-third of the world’s silicon wafers, such that one of every four kWh of PV energy generated in the world today comes from polysilicon produced by GCL. Through the development of green power, GCL is reducing coal emissions by 35 million tons per year.
Zhu stated that companies are the main consumers as well as the main conservers and reducers of energy. Resource conservation and environmental protection are the undeniable corporate social responsibilities, and they are also vital to a company’s survival and development.
In an effort to advance practical cooperation between China and Japan in energy conservation and environmental protection, Zhu represented Chinese businesses in proposing three initiatives: The first is for the governments of the two nations to provide companies with supportive financial and tax policies in promoting energy-conservation and environmental-protection technology, initiating energy-conservation and environmental-protection projects, and jointly developing third-party marketplace business. The second is for companies in both nations to boost their R&D and innovative cooperation in energy-conservation and environmental-protection technology, especially in the areas of new materials, energy-conservation technology, and environment-friendly processing. The third is to open a third-party marketplace in which practical cooperation is deepened so that the two nations may jointly pursue the Belt and Road Initiative in an environment-friendly way.
Around 800 government officials, experts, and businesspeople from both nations attended the main event and sub-forums. That same evening, Zhu also attended the China-Japan Enterprises Conference, held by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Japan-China Economic Association, in which he engaged in talks with such Japanese companies as Mitsui, Toshiba, Panasonic, and Mitsubishi on the subject of furthering cooperation between China and Japan in energy conservation and environmental protection.
Inaugurated in 2006, the China-Japan Comprehensive Forum on Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection is a forum in the field of Sino-Japanese trade cooperation approved by China’s State Council. A total of 337 projects have been initiated at the forum, making it a highlight in Sino-Japanese trade cooperation and serve as a platform of energy conservation and environmental protection for companies, research institutions, and local governments in both countries. At the forum, China’s National Development and Reform Commission and Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization signed the Enhancing Practical Cooperation in Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection MOU. In the future, the two nations will continue to further cooperation in the areas of project communication, policy exchanges, technology cooperation, and personnel exchanges so as to advance to greater heights the Sino-Japanese cooperation in energy conservation and environmental protection.