Yingli Solar had exceeded its targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2013 as part of its membership commitments in the World Wide Fund for the nonprofit’s Nature’s Climate Savers program.
In January 2013, Yingli became the first Chinese company and the first PV manufacturer to join Climate Savers. In May 2014, the company began internal inspections to ensure it met its 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 about 22 percent in 2013, as compared to its initial target to reduce emissions intensity by 13 percent by the end of 2015;
- Decreased GHG emissions from purchased goods and services per MW of PV modules production by about 12 percent, as compared to its initial target to reduce emissions by 7 percent;
- Decreased its GHG emissions from upstream transportation by about 17 percent, as compared to its initial target to reduce emissions by 10 percent.
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 energy efficiency and GHG reduction commitments, and made energy consumption levels and GHG emissions important criteria in supplies qualification.
In addition, Yingli developed a comprehensive multi-year plan related specifically to logistics to reduce GHG emissions during the transportation of PV modules and raw materials.