Green Jiangnan Public Environmental Concern Center (PECC) and the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE) formed the Photovoltaic Industry ESG Research Group. Drawing on the Green Supply Chain CITI Index and the Corporate Climate Action CATI Index, the Photovoltaic Industry ESG Research Group has, for the third consecutive year, conducted research on the green and low-carbon performance of photovoltaic power generation equipment manufacturers (Table 1) with relatively high market shares, mainly engaged in the production of polysilicon, silicon wafer, cells, modules, Inverter, glass, and mounting systems.

Since the signing of the Paris Agreement, the international community’s joint efforts have resulted in global renewable energy expanding at an accelerated pace and catastrophic temperature-rise scenarios being mitigated. However, extreme weather events continue to occur frequently worldwide, temperature increases have repeatedly reached new highs, and the climate situation remains extremely severe. Of particular concern is that total carbon emissions have increased rather than decreased, while high-emission industries such as steel and aluminum have made slow progress. How to enable industries such as automobiles to release low-carbon procurement price signals and guide raw-material supply chains such as steel and aluminum to accelerate decarbonization has become key to breaking the emissions-reduction bottleneck.

China’s automobile exports reached another record high at 7.098 million vehicles in 2025 , with new energy vehicles becoming the core driver of exports. The dividends from going overseas are extending to “carbon assets”—auto brands such as Leapmotor have earned substantial revenue by transferring carbon credits while Chery has begun to see its overseas-market revenue surpass that of China’s domestic market. Earning a tangible “carbon dividend” is encouraging, but a more far-reaching question lies behind: as automobile exports advance at full speed, and in the face of stringent international green trade rules, can Chinese automakers use this opportunity to accelerate product carbon footprint disclosure, compel decarbonization across the entire industry chain, and strengthen their low-carbon appeal to consumers in China and abroad?

The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently released its annual Global EV Outlook 2026. The report states that in 2025, large vehicles including SUVs accounted for almost 70% of the global electric vehicle market. These figures underscore the widely discussed issue of “autobesity”: the increasing size and weight of vehicles. The global auto market is increasingly shifting toward larger models, which not only raises the consumption of raw materials such as steel, aluminum, and plastics in passenger vehicle production, but also increases greenhouse gas emissions across upstream supply chains. The resulting “incremental carbon emissions” could even offset the emissions reduction of electric vehicles during the driving phase.

The global automotive industry continues to thrive, delivering significant mobility benefits while generating substantial carbon emissions. Research indicates highlights the critical need to accelerate decarbonization across upstream supply-chain segments, esp. steel and aluminum. However, limited demand from automakers has constrained large-scale adoption of low-carbon raw materials. Overcoming this bottleneck requires heightened awareness and coordinated support from all stakeholders. In view of this, in 2025, the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) and Green Jiangnan, together with nine other environmental organizations, jointly launched the “Auto Carbon Scan” campaign. With the support of several foundations, IPE has also conducted study on the 'Automobile-Steel and Aluminum Green Supply Chain Collaborative Carbon Reduction'. The study focuses on motivating the automotive industry to publicly disclose supply chain carbon reduction targets, implement low-carbon procurement requirements, and incentivize hard-to-abate industries such as steel and aluminum smelting to accelerate the production and supply of low-carbon products.

As the global transition to renewable energy accelerates, demand for transition minerals is surging. Their extraction and processing entail significant environmental costs and potential social ripple effects, posing a shared challenge for global climate governance. From an ecological perspective, this report systematically reviews the environmental impacts across the transition mineral lifecycle. It also examines how stakeholders—including governments, industry associations, supply chain leaders, and civil society—engage in environmental governance and disclosure. Finally, it offers recommendations to enhance environmental transparency across transition mineral supply chains.

In 2025, the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) and Green Jiangnan, together with nine other environmental organizations, jointly launched the “Vehicle Carbon Footprint Snap” campaign. The active participation of Blue Map App users unlocked the product carbon footprints of more than 280,000 vehicles via street snap, revealing total emissions exceeding 10.26 million tons of CO?. Notably, Volvo Cars' average carbon footprint of the photographed models was 306 grams per kilometer, higher than that of 89.3% of brands in the observed sample. To accelerate low-carbon transformation of China’s automotive sector and provide consumers with more environmentally sustainable choices, the eleven environmental organizations collectively sent an open letter to leading automakers. Several Chinese and international brands responded constructively and engaged in dialogue and exchanges. However, Volvo has yet to provide any response to date.