Midea Building Technologies Heat Pump Production Line Has Been SGS Recognized in Response to CBAM Proposal

In June 2022, the European Parliament reached an agreement on the revised Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) proposal, scheduled to take effect in 2027. CBAM, a carbon border tariff, targets carbon-intensive products imported from outside the EU. Sectors covered by the new proposal include iron and steel, aluminium, cement, fertilizers, and electricity, with the scope extending to hydrogen and ammonia, polymers, organic chemicals, and indirect emissions generated from electricity used for manufacturing CBAM goods. The Parliament also proposed to shorten the phase-out period from ten to five years. Compared to the draft report proposed a year ago, the new proposal adopted by the European Parliament broadened the scope to include more industries and indirect emissions.

With the adoption of CBAM, the U.S. also introduced the Clean Competition Act to the agenda, and reports have aptly pointed out that European and American countries are building new green trade barriers that will have a profound impact on global trade. There is an urgent need for Chinese enterprises to accelerate their decarbonization transformation and improve their carbon management capabilities in order to cope with the pressure and challenges brought by CBAM.

Midea Net-Zero Production Line Has Been SGS-Recognized

Under the global consensus to reach carbon neutrality, Midea Building Technologies is committed to promoting decarbonization and aiming to reach net-zero targets by staying future-orientated and actively attending to changes in international carbon tariffs. In particular, Midea’s net-zero heat pump production lines have been SGS-recognized.

As a global leader in inspection, accreditation, testing and certification, SGS is an internationally recognized benchmark for quality and integrity. In the field of sustainability, SGS provides carbon emission data verification for renowned clients and participates in the development and promotion of comprehensive low-carbon solutions.

In the most recent assessment, SGS audited the greenhouse gas emissions related to the production process of Midea’s P8 and P9 heat pump lines in plant #4 of Shunde Base. Midea established an emission source inventory for the production lines, including direct and indirect emissions of purchased power, all fully verified by SGS. The report indicated that greenhouse gas emission sources of Midea’s heat pump production line include natural gas, purchased electricity, HFC refrigerant, CO2 fire extinguisher, etc. The verification data showed that each heat pump emits 7.27kgCO2e of greenhouse gas during the production process.

Two-Pronged Approach to Reach Net-Zero Production

Carbon emissions are inevitable in the production process of Midea heat pumps. A carbon neutral production line does not equate to zero emissions – it means an overall net-zero facility achieved through technical energy saving and emission reduction measures. For this reason, Midea has been simultaneously offsetting emission with carbon credits while upping decarbonization efforts in the production lines to reach net-zero emission targets.  

Because refrigerant is the main source of carbon emissions in the HVAC industry, Midea has chosen to use the more environmentally-friendly R32 refrigerant (GWP value of 771, while GWP values of R134a, R410a are 1530 and 2255.5 respectively. The data comes from the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report) in its heat pump line, and take an active approach to decarbonization. One such step is refrigerant recycling - Midea’s heat pump production line uses precision equipment for refrigerant filling, thereby reducing dissipation factor and making the recycling of refrigerant possible during product repair. The second part involves the use of photovoltaic power – all production facilities are equipped with solar panels to generate power without greenhouse gas emissions. The third part of the effort is increasing energy storage equipment to reduce energy consumption and improve energy usage.

In addition, Midea upgraded its assembly line automation with added inverter for vacuum boxes and a sleep program for robots, which can be automatically adjusted according to production needs to minimize energy loss. While cutting back on its own emissions, for those that cannot be neutralized through such measures, such as emissions caused by natural gas welding in production lines and other employee activities, Midea is offsetting emissions by using new energy green electricity and Certification Emission Reduction (CER) quota.

In particular, Midea attaches labels of zero carbon manufacturing to the heat pump products, so as to lead users to make contributions to green ecology in the market.

Climate change is the global crisis of our time. Reducing carbon emissions and reaching for net-zero has become a world consensus. 

Practicing the concept of sustainable development and undertaking the social responsibility of ecological and environmental protection, Midea Building Technologies will actively implement greenhouse gas emission inventory and control to help slow down climate change. In the future, Midea hopes to promote energy saving and carbon reduction through the management of carbon emissions, and thus promote a green and high-quality development in society.