BEIJING - Intertek, a provider of testing and inspection services, will soon offer training to help Chinese enterprises better understand the challenges and opportunities concerning reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
"Our training program will help educate Chinese companies on the present policy framework and help them plan a path towards meeting carbon dioxide reduction targets and capturing business opportunities from the market in the most efficient way for their business," Wolfhart Hauser, chief executive officer of London-based Intertek, told China Daily.
"The course will prepare Chinese companies for carbon emission calculations and carbon-credit trading regimes in future," he said.
According to Hauser, Intertek is looking at ways to bring its 100 years of global experience with the oil, gas and petrochemical industries to China's petrochemical industry.
"The framework for carbon dioxide emission limits, measurement standards, carbon-credit generation and trading schemes will continue to evolve fast and there are variables in corporate and governmental approaches worldwide", said Hauser.
"Therefore, both industry and regulators need to have a good framework that aims to not only support business activity and industry needs, but also to ensure the targets, compliance and measurement schemes are clear and can be met effectively at the operational and supply chain level," he added.
In November 2009, the government officially announced its carbon intensity targets to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product in 2010 by 40 to 45 percent compared with the level of 2005. Officials are now conceiving the regulatory and market mechanisms to engage business to improve their energy efficiency and bring down their carbon emissions.
Chinese businesses are expected to face increasing pressure from home and abroad to decrease their carbon footprints in the future. However, it seems that the basic approach of testing, auditing and measuring the environmental footprint of their operations and products is still a tough task for the majority of Chinese companies.
"The local industry has not developed a deep perception of sustainability, although energy conservation, emissions reduction and low carbon economy as terms are widely quoted," said Fred Bai, president of Intertek China. "That's the main reason we plan to launch this tailor-made training course for Chinese enterprises," he said.
