BAIC Group Releases the "BLUE Plan": to Achieve the Comprehensive Decarbonization of Products in 2050

On June 15, BAIC Group held an online press conference of "Blue Plan", announcing that it would further promote the comprehensive new energy and intelligent networking, make a full range of green low-carbon products for passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles, and strive to peak carbon emissions in 2025 and achieve comprehensive decarbonization of products and carbon neutrality in operation in 2050. For this purpose, BAIC Group will focus on the four major actions of product carbon reduction, technology carbon reduction, manufacturing carbon reduction, and low-carbon ecology to further promote the implementation of the goal of “dual carbon”.

At the press conference, Zhang Xiyong, general manager of BAIC Group, introduced the " Blue Plan", and made the following explanations on the new concept of BAIC's commitment to carbon neutrality:

B is belief, which stands for low-carbon concept. BAIC will focus on building a brand new low-carbon business entity facing the future, and put the low-carbon concept through all process nodes of enterprises and products.

L is life, which stands for a better life. By achieving the goal of “dual carbon”, BAIC will further drive to the ultimate goal of helping people live a better life and the sustainable development of all mankind.

U is user, which stands for user orientation. BAIC will keep in mind that serving users is the foundation to achieve its goals. It will continuously meet the needs of users and form a good interaction with users.

E is ecology, which stands for ecological model. With vehicles as a platform, BAIC will open up extensive cooperation and internal and external collaboration to jointly build a green and sustainable ecology involving the whole industry chain and the whole life cycle.

According to the introduction of Zhang Xiyong, the goal of BAIC's “dual carbon” campaign is to fully peak carbon emissions in 2025 and achieve comprehensive decarbonization of products and carbon neutrality in operation in 2050. By the end of the "14th Five-Year Plan", the average carbon emissions of products will drop by 33% on the basis of 2020. During the "14th Five-Year Plan", the carbon emissions per unit output value will decrease by 21%, and the carbon emissions per vehicle will decrease by 24%, reaching the domestic advanced level. In 2030, the carbon emission intensity index will reach the international advanced level. 

With the "Blue Plan" as the engine, BAIC Group will focus on four major actions to further promote the implementation of the goal of "dual carbon".

Regarding product carbon reduction, BAIC's independent passenger vehicles will increase five electric products, including ARCFOX and Beijing brands, and commercial vehicles will complete the transition of all new energy products from oil-to-electricity platform to brand new platform. BAIC will accelerate the electrification process of the power system, speed up the launch of hybrid products, and promote the application of high-efficiency engines. It will complete the research and development of a brand-new platform for hydrogen-fueled heavy-duty commercial vehicles.

Regarding technology carbon reduction, it will promote the implementation of platform solid-state power battery system and rapid battery heating technology of new energy vehicles, adopt BAIC electric drive 4.0, and build a distributed drive control technology. In the traditional vehicle field, three platforms of dual-motor hybrid HEV, extended-range REEV and extended-range hybrid RE-HEV will be built, and the products of each platform will achieve a fuel saving rate of 30%. lightweight, green materials and recycling technologies will be promoted. The application ratio of green materials will reach 5% by 2025 and 8% by 2028.

Regarding carbon reduction in manufacturing, a comprehensive carbon examination action will be launched to speed up the application of carbon reduction technologies, the utilization of renewable energy and the improvement of low-carbon technologies. It is estimated that by 2025, BAIC Group will establish one or two zero-carbon factories. By the end of 2030, it will complete all efficient equipment replacement, and the carbon emission intensity index will reach the international advanced level. During the "14th Five-Year Plan", the ratio of green energy will be increased by 50%, and it will be increase by 10% in 2030. 

Regarding low-carbon ecology, BAIC will vigorously promote circular economy, carry out recycling of automobile waste materials and re-manufacturing of spare parts, and lay out businesses such as used vehicle and automobile dismantling, power battery recycling, dismantling and cascade utilization. BAIC will integrate charging station, overcharge station, hydrogen refueling station and battery leasing mode to promote the efficient utilization and sustainable development of energy resources in the whole life cycle of new energy vehicles.

"Facing the future, we will take high-quality, high-tech, and sustainable development as main line, focus on new technology, new energy, and new ecology, and build a new format of low-carbon technology travel in the automobile industry," Zhang Xiyong said.

Three guests from the field of energy conservation and carbon reduction attended this online press conference.

Zhang Xiliang, director of Institute of Energy, Environment and Economics, Tsinghua University and chief scientist in the field of climate governance and carbon finance of Institute of Carbon Neutralization, Tsinghua University, said in his speech that as an important field of carbon reduction and emission reduction, the automobile industry was of great significance in promoting the green and low-carbon development of social economy. As the backbone strength of China's automobile industry, BAIC Group's "Blue Plan" has made an in-depth exploration of promoting low-carbon development, and will make greater contributions to the realization of the "dual carbon" goal of the whole society. 

Wang Ting, deputy secretary-general of Carbon Neutrality Committee of China Energy Conservation Association, believes that BAIC Group's exploration in new energy vehicle development, green factory construction, photovoltaic power generation construction and other aspects has provided important experience for the automobile industry. The "Blue Plan" will also have more room to play in promoting the green ecological construction of the upstream and downstream energy structure transformation of the automobile industry. 

Liu Xinping, director of Sustainable Development Division of General Planning Department of Organizing Committee for the Beijing Winter Olympics, fully affirmed BAIC's contribution to the "Green Winter Olympics". "I believe that under the guidance of the ‘dual carbon' action strategy, BAIC will take more powerful actions to promote green and low-carbon development, bring people a healthy, safe and green way to travel, and build a green, low-carbon and efficient urban traffic ecology." 

As a leading enterprise in China's automobile industry, BAIC Group actively responds to the national "dual carbon" goal and resolutely practices the sustainable development strategy of low carbon and environmental protection. During the "13th Five-Year Plan", BAIC Group vigorously developed electric vehicles and led the construction of the national new energy vehicle industry chain.

By 2020, the total mileage of its electric vehicle products has reached 18.3 billion kilometers, with comprehensive energy conservation and emission reduction of 1.94 million tons, equivalent to planting 11.37 million trees. Regarding green manufacturing, BAIC Group has 17 national green factories and 2 green supply chain enterprises, ranking first in the industry. In addition, BAIC Group also reduces carbon emissions by promoting circular economy development, digital management, VOCs governance and other measures.