JA Solar

At a Glance

Industry

Energy or Utility

Project Types

Data Analysis, Goals/Targets, Sustainability and Energy Management Strategy

Year

2024

Location

Beijing

Summary

Yuanyang Xiao partnered with JA Solar's ESG and Sustainability team, comprehensively supporting key sustainability initiatives such as accounting for product-level carbon emission, developing a biodiversity strategy, establishing a Science-Based Carbon Target, mapping out emission reduction pathways, completing the CDP questionnaire, preparing the TCFD report and 2023 GHG emission report, etc.

Goals

As a global leader in the photovoltaic industry, JA Solar has prioritized sustainability in its long-term corporate strategy. To further enhance their sustainability leadership, as well as ESG ratings, JA Solar enlisted EDF Climate Corps fellow Yuanyang Xiao to fulfill multiple tasks. These included calculating product-level carbon emissions to identify reduction opportunities and developing a corporate biodiversity strategy for long-term environmental action. Additionally, he contributed to calculating SBTi targets and pathways, completing the CDP questionnaire, preparing the TCFD report, data visualizing, writing and translating for the JA Solar 2023 GHG emission report, and researching for circular economy strategy.

Solutions

1. Product-level carbon accounting: Yuanyang collaborated with factory managers to gather data on raw materials, suppliers, transportation, energy use, and waste. He applied emission factors and used activity-based costing to allocate emissions to each production phase. Using revenue and cost data, he identified products and phases with the highest potential for emission reductions. 2. Biodiversity Strategy: Yuanyang researched biodiversity policies and summarized the photovoltaic industry's impact on biodiversity. He collected corporate best practices, provided action recommendations to JA, and submitted a comprehensive biodiversity policy. He also presented the whole research internally to raise awareness. 3. Other climate actions: - He calculated the SBTi target for JA and mapped emission reduction pathways. - He reorganized and calculated GHG emissions, energy consumption, low-carbon initiatives, and other data for the CDP questionnaire. - He assisted in TCFD report writing and used GIS and WRI tools to assess water risks. - He visualized data, writing and translating JA's GHG Report 2023. - He researched EU and China's circular economy policies for the JA Circular Economy Strategy.

Potential Impact

Yuanyang's research and works could help JA Solar on: 1. Identifying the key products and phases with the highest potential for emissions reductions. 2. Improving awareness of biodiversity, promoting the launch of JA Solar's biodiversity policy, and charting a course for enduring biodiversity action. 3. Formulating JA Solar's SBTi carbon targets and realization pathways consistent with the Paris Agreement, which has been made public on JA Solar's official website. 4. Enhancing ESG ratings through more comprehensive disclosures.

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