通用电气加码投资中国清洁能源

    中国的环境问题很明显。随着中国城镇人口增长、居民消费和开车出行增加，如果不采取行动，中国业已糟糕的空气质量将变得更加恶劣。在中国成都召开的财富全球论坛“共建可持续未来”主题会议上，三位世界顶尖CEO集思广益，深度剖析了这个问题。

    中国石油、天然气和化工业巨头中国石化（Sinopec）的董事长傅成玉认为，太阳能、风能这类可再生能源固然重要，但至少短期内它们对于解决中国的空气质量问题作用会很小。他表示，中国可以通过提高能源效率取得更多成效。“我们的单位GDP能耗是欧洲的3倍多，”他说。“我们需要更多的科技创新来应对能效挑战。我们可以通过提高能效，将能源需求缩减三分之二。”

    挑战非常严峻。傅成玉表示，如果中国遵循工业发展的历史道路，最终会耗尽全球能源。那么，什么能够推动变革呢？通用电气（General Electric）CEO杰夫•伊梅尔特、杜邦（Dupont）CEO柯爱伦和中国石化CEO傅成玉均赞成这样一点，那就是，中国需要更严格的环保标准，同时制实施。傅成玉表示，中国政府正在努力寻找途径，降低火电厂排放，将环保标准提高到欧4和欧5水平。另外，他认为可能会有所帮助的一件事是：中国政府已经开始从能源补贴转向市场自由定价模式，它将会鼓励更多的海外公司将清洁科技引入中国。

    通用电气CEO杰夫•伊梅尔特也同意这一点，中国正在认真对待环境问题，未来他将“加倍在中国的清洁能源投资”。迄今，通用电气在清洁科技领域的投资令人印象深刻。通用电气自身制造的产品就包罗万象，囊括了从混合动力机车到风能和天然气涡轮机等。通用电气从五年前开始启动“绿色创想”（Ecomagination）计划、着力能源领域创新。伊梅尔特表示，自那以来，通用电气的能效产品年营收已经从50亿美元增加到了270亿美元。换言之，能源创新同样具有商业价值。

    但伊梅尔特担心西方CEO们口口声声“绿色”和“可持续发展”可能适得其反。“用词很重要，而像‘绿色’和‘可持续发展’这些听上去冠冕堂皇的字眼并不会推动变革，”他说。“中国CEO听到‘可持续发展’这个词时，他会认为美国是要教他们如何用不经济的方法做事。”

    杜邦CEO柯爱伦表示，更多地聆听客户的声音有利于推动能源领域的创新。在全球范围内除了大型研发中心，杜邦已经设立了11个规模相对较小的创新中心，其中2个设在中国。她说：“我们学到的经验是，科技全球通用，但解决方案要因地制宜。”柯爱伦表示，客户到访这些创新中心时提出的想法往往会催生出成功的产品。过去三年，这些创新中心已牵头推动了165种新产品，将产生4亿美元的可持续收入。

    中国能在多短时间内将空气变清洁？没人愿意贸然给出答案，但傅成玉持乐观态度：“中国中央政府已经将环境问题视为头等要事。”果真如此，中国人应该能长出一口气了。（财富中文网）

    The problem is clear. With China's urban population growing and its citizens consuming and driving more, the nation's already poor air quality will get even worse if nothing is done. That was one of the main themes during 'Building a Sustainable Future,' a session of Fortune's Global Forum in Chengdu where three of the world's top CEOs put their heads together today to parse this problem.

    Fu Chengyu, chairman of the Chinese oil, gas and chemical giant Sinopec, believes that while renewables like solar and wind are important, at least in the short term, they will play a minor role in solving China's air quality problem. He says that China can gain much more by pursuing energy efficiency. "We consume three times more energy than Europe per dollar of GDP," he says. "We need great technological innovation to solve our energy efficiency challenges. We can cut our energy needs by two-thirds through efficiency."

    The challenge is daunting. Fu said that if China follows the historical path of industrial development, it will eventually exhaust the world's supply of energy. So what can drive change? General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt, Dupont CEO Ellen Kullman, and Fu all agreed that China needs tougher environmental standards and ones that are enforced. Already, Fu says, the Chinese government is working on ways to cut emissions from coal plants and to raise environmental standards to Euro 4 and Euro 5 levels. Another thing he says will help: Beijing is already moving away from energy subsidies toward free-market pricing, which would encourage more foreign corporations to bring clean tech to China.

    Jeff Immelt, the CEO of GE (GE) agreed that China was serious about cleaning up its environment and said he would "double down his clean energy investments there." So far GE's record in investing in clean technology has been impressive. Immelt says that since focusing his company—which makes everything from hybrid locomotives to wind and gas turbines—on innovation in the energy space with his Ecomagination program five years ago, revenues from energy efficient products have risen from $5 billion to $27 billion annually. In other words, innovation in energy makes good business sense.

    Immelt worries, however, that western CEOs who throw around terms like green and sustainability are hurting their own cause. "Words matter and the words 'green' and 'sustainability' don't drive change because they are elitist," he said. "When a Chinese CEO hears the word sustainability he thinks they're being lectured to by the U.S. on how to do things in an uneconomical way."

    Dupont (DD) CEO Ellen Kullman said that innovation in the energy sector can be spurred by listening more to your customers. In addition to its large R&D centers around the world, Dupont has set up 11 smaller innovation centers globally, including two in China. "What we've learned," she said, "is that science is global but solutions are local." Kullman says that when her customers visit these innovation centers they bring ideas that often lead to winning products. Over the last three years the innovation centers have led to 165 new products that will deliver $400 million in sustainable revenues.

    How soon will China be able to clean up its air? No one was willing to venture a guess, but Chairman Fu was optimistic: "The central government has made the environment its top priority." If that turns out to be true, the Chinese will be able to breathe a big sigh of relief.