Solutions to green compliance for export companies

In a highly visible place in the exhibition hall of the Third Shanghai International Carbon Neutrality Expo was an eye-catching indoor planting cabinet with pots of different vegetables at different stages of growth: radish, lettuce, strawberry, and spinach.

The outfit was deceptively simple, and the leaves and fruits are little different from their counterparts in an authentic farm. Except that, said 43-year-old Zhang Bo, they are cultivated in a controlled environment, with well-adjusted artificial illumination, and managed by the pressing the buttons on an APP, powered by the Internet-of-Things (IoT).

The simple-looking micro-farm, a CheerBio product, has been exported to seven countries including Singapore, Japan, and Australia. Its use outside the home is even more promising, ranging from community, schools, to astronauts in space.

Going global is always fraught with challenges.

"In going overseas, given strict border control over seeds, we need to investigate the local market to choose locally approved vegetable seeds," said Zhang.

"This is not all bad: In the process we become more knowledgeable about local residents' preference for a certain types of vegetables, and their nutritional needs."

Such compliance with local green protocol, sometimes known as green trade barriers, are impacting an increasingly number of Chinese enterprises seeking to go global, as revealed at the 2025 Carbon Neutrality Expo Parallel Forum on Green Global Expansion on Thursday afternoon.

At the forum, a number of officials, researchers, and business leaders shared their insights into issues confronting Chinese enterprises going overseas.

"With deepening opening up, as more and more Chinese enterprises are seeking development space overseas, and in view of global consensus on addressing climate change and accelerating the green transition, green trade barriers are becoming more pronounced," said Zhu Minglin, deputy director of Shanghai's Development and Reform Commission.

Zhu pointed to four areas where more effort need to be committed: Drawing up rigorous green standards, intensifying green, low-carbon supply chain management, incentivizing investment in green technology, and promoting green awareness in general within the corporate structure through in-house training, with ESG section created explicitly for coordination.

In his speech, Gu Chunting, vice chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), pointed out that China's commitment to the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality fully testifies to the responsibility of a major power and contributes Chinese wisdom and solutions to the global response to climate change.

Gu added that as a pioneer in China's reform and opening-up, Shanghai has always upheld the new development philosophy of innovation, coordination, green development, openness and sharing, by embracing new green development and comprehensive green transformation.

"For enterprises going overseas, it entails not only competitive products, but also complete industrial chain support and a rules-compliant operation system, in addition to a nuanced understanding of relevant international trade rules," Gu said.

To put such aspirations into competitive edge would require the involvement of professional solution providers.

According to Michael Bi, Ernst & Young's Greater China Markets Managing Partner, to transform green advantages into global competitiveness, there is an increasing demand for relevant services, such as strategic consulting, building digital infrastructure, cultivating talent, and consulting on tax policies, from either Chinese enterprises eyeing global or foreign companies entering the China market.

Bi suggested attention should be paid to aspects such as full green transition throughout the supply chain, including sourcing of green raw material, low-carbon logistics, zero-carbon manufacturing, smart management, and support of green finance, and sophisticated understanding of local green standards, so as to minimize the risk of trade barriers.

In her keynote speech, Miao Hong, senior expert from World Resources Institute, through case studies, shared her findings in best practice of some Chinese enterprises in going global.

Miao said that for 12 consecutive years since 2012, China has been ranked the third place in terms of direct overseas investment, with a qualitative leap with regards to the types of exports, from low-end consumer goods, to high-value added products.

Miao said that for all the paradigm shift, there is still some room for growth in the weight of services in China exports, hinting at future growth.

As an energy expert, she drew attention to the country's growing role in exporting renewable energy, solar energy, and EVs, with building capacity in some sectors highly competitive globally.

"As far as solar and wind power is concerned, they have already become part and parcel of China's overseas energy investment, which are also part of the global response in low-carbon transition to address climate change," Miao said.

Miao said that 2020 was a milestone year when China's renewable energy exports outweighed coal-power in overseas power investment for the first time.

With global development initiative part of common aspiration, China has played an exemplary role in meeting global energy needs, particularly in Africa and Southeast Asia, where there have been persisting challenge meeting their energy needs.

She cited some cases of investment that appear to be particularly successful in terms of green compliance, such as Goldwind's Cattle Hill Wind Farm Project in Australia for its protection of migratory birds, and in Zambia where the installation of small solar-powered mills in rural areas have significantly held down the price of staple food.