The Green Deal and the Recovery Plan

Speaking Points from Abraham Liu during the virtual session organised by Forum Europe, Friday 29 May 2020

Thank you Paul,

Congratulations for setting up this sophisticated digital event at such a relevant moment. Indeed we are all learning to navigate in the so called « new normal », and today’s topic is of utmost importance for the future of the European project.

The economy world-wide has been hit by the pandemic. The economic down-turn is still ongoing, with some signs of recovery here and there. Repeatedly, the EU has taken the approach that an economic depression should not put the Green Deal in question. It considers the Green Deal reinforced or driven by a digital agenda as an instrument for recovery. We at Huawei share this view. I want to be clear: Huawei praises Wednesday’s proposals by the European Commission to establish a 750 billion Euro recovery plan. Even if it sounds like a lot of money, it remains a relatively modest sum in light of what it is expected to achieve. Every single euro will have to be used in a smart manner in order to maximize the impact on citizens and businesses. In this context, Huawei’s advanced technologies are a perfect fit for Europe’s needs.”

Let me make these three key points today:

1. Global cooperation is important, no matter if it is for economy recovery or the Green Deal.

2. The ICT industry itself is green.

3. Through digitalization, other industries will become greener.

Let me walk you through these three key points.

“A geo-political dimension”

Globalisation is not the source of the problem. It is the answer. Sabine Weyand, Director General of DG Trade, recently at the Global Boardroom Conference of the Financial Times, said in paraphrasing Mark Twain, that the news of the death of globalisation has been greatly exaggerated.

Of course, trade rules and supply chains of critical products need to be reviewed. But overall, only by global cooperation and strengthening trade, both the pandemic and the economic crisis can be overcome.

In 2008/2009 China launched a significant deficit spending programme which had a positive pull-effect on the world economy, in particular the European one.

Europe is responsible for less than 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. This is quite a bit, but Europe needs to look beyond its borders. The upcoming EU-China Summit is an opportunity to join forces, and we hope this opportunity will not be missed.

We need global tech cooperation. Setting up fences and making it difficult for global companies to invest will not help. It is no secret that this form of arbitrary industry protectionism affects Huawei in particular. Again I want to be clear: Huawei and Europe both need global supply chains.

Concretely, what are the application areas of technology enabling the European Green Deal?

Electricity Supply:

• Real-time predictions on how much electricity is needed allows a better balance of demand and supply in the light of a growing number of variable energy sources (such as solar, wind).
• Smart meters will generate transparency for users.
• Data analysis and AI will help improve the planning of electricity supply.
• Clean energy: Huawei helps produce more renewable energy for the world. Huawei has delivered more than 118 GW of smart photovoltaic products worldwide. Since 2013, the cumulative power generation has exceeded 180 billion kWh, and the carbon emission has been reduced by over 108 million tons.

Transport:

• Smart scheduling and routing of freight operations will reduce the number of trips.
• Smart parking systems.
• Intelligent traffic light management.
• Power Electronics Technology helps to reduce emission of cars by over 80%.

Buildings:

• Energy consumption could be reduced by taking multiple factors such as weather forecasts and building occupancy into account, in particular by managing air-conditioning systems.

Energy-efficient ICT:

• The ICT sector is leading by example and becoming greener. In 2025, carbon emissions of the ICT industry per connection will drop by 80% of 2015 levels, according to the Huawei Global Industry Vision paper.
•  We at Huawei are proud of our highly energy saving 5G technologies. We also see great potential in AI controlled telecom network management.
• In the near future, the ICT industry will pioneer in the carbon emission reduction and energy saving, helping to achieve Net-Zero.

This brings me to another important question:

How to unleash the potential of digital technologies?

Ladies and Gentlemen, we need public investments (for instance, deployment of smart devices in cities, at the road side, in homes, in buildings). Private companies need to invest at an even larger scale. The Recovery Plan recognises this. And let me underline at this stage as it is still not known to everybody: Huawei is a fully private company, 100% owned by its employees. The longer I stay in Brussels, the more I know I have to point this out as many people have misconceptions about Huawei. Believe me, we are 100% private.

Importantly for Europe, Huawei is ready to significantly step up its investments to make ICT greener and to provide enabling digital technologies for green solutions across different sectors. The focus is on ‘enabling’. We do not control applications or data, we provide technologies, chips, antennas and devices. As a global company we can bring value to the green Recovery Plan which is substantial. We hope Europe wants this contribution.

Let me finish with a reference to Robert Schuman. Earlier this month, we commemorated the 70th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration. Back in 1950, Robert Schuman said: “World peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it”. These wise words also call upon us to be ambitious and bold. Together, we can achieve a lot. United, we are stronger. Thank you.