The “2024 ESG Global Leaders Conference” was held in Shanghai from October 16 to 18. Energy Transition Committee Chairman Turner delivered a speech. Turner emphasized that keeping global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius, or even 1.7 degrees Celsius, is a huge global problem facing all humankind, and the solution is to achieve net zero global economic emissions by the middle of this century. “The most fundamental reason we are confident about this is technological progress.” Turner used solar photovoltaic cells as an example. Over the past 50 years, the cost of solar photovoltaic power generation per watt has been reduced by 99.9%, and its cost is one-thousandth of what it was in 1970. And the reason for reducing costs is the strong support of Chinese companies. “We have also seen a sharp drop in the cost of wind turbines and batteries, and a huge breakthrough in battery technology, which means that battery manufacturing is no longer entirely dependent on scarce and difficult to extract minerals such as nickel and cobalt. The innovation of lithium iron phosphate batteries marks an important step forward for the world,” he said. Currently, with the gradual decline in the cost of electrolyzers, we are able to produce low-cost, high-efficiency green hydrogen electric vehicles. The technology we have today can decarbonize global electricity production, largely eliminate fossil fuels, and increase current electrification levels in the future. We will achieve the electrification of road traffic, the electrification of residential heating, and the electrification of industrial heating on a global scale. The degree of electrification will far exceed our current imagination.

The “2024 ESG Global Leaders Conference” was held in Shanghai from October 16 to 18. Energy Transition Committee Chairman Turner delivered a speech. Turner emphasized that keeping global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius, or even 1.7 degrees Celsius, is a huge global problem facing all humankind, and the solution is to achieve net zero global economic emissions by the middle of this century. “The most fundamental reason we are confident about this is technological progress.” Turner used solar photovoltaic cells as an example. Over the past 50 years, the cost of solar photovoltaic power generation per watt has been reduced by 99.9%, and its cost is one-thousandth of what it was in 1970. And the reason for reducing costs is the strong support of Chinese companies. “We have also seen a sharp drop in the cost of wind turbines and batteries, and a huge breakthrough in battery technology, which means that battery manufacturing is no longer entirely dependent on scarce and difficult to extract minerals such as nickel and cobalt. The innovation of lithium iron phosphate batteries marks an important step forward for the world,” he said. Currently, with the gradual decline in the cost of electrolyzers, we are able to produce low-cost, high-efficiency green hydrogen electric vehicles. The technology we have today can decarbonize global electricity production, largely eliminate fossil fuels, and increase current electrification levels in the future. We will achieve the electrification of road traffic, the electrification of residential heating, and the electrification of industrial heating on a global scale. The degree of electrification will far exceed our current imagination.