JinkoSolar, a global leader in the photovoltaic industry operating a sales office in Greece, was awarded the Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) certificate by SGS, the world’s leading testing, inspection, verification, and certification organization, the company announced in a statement.
This is the first time a C2C certificate has been issued in China. The issuance of the C2C certification represents the adherence to high environmental, health, and safety standard by JinkoSolar’s products and manufacturing processes, further affirming JinkoSolar’s efforts in promoting environmental and sustainable best practices within the solar industry.
The world has witnessed a rapid development of the renewable energy sector in recent times as solar and energy storage systems have become increasingly popular among governments, businesses, and the general public.
In China, the solar industry, along with the entire renewable energy sector, has been highlighted as a key area of international collaboration by the “Belt and Road” initiative.
As China’s solar sector becomes increasingly more competitive, Chinese solar companies have made huge pushes to break into overseas markets and accelerate the expansion of their global operational footprint.
The C2C certification, administered by the US based C2C Products Innovation Institute, is valid for two years and is broken into five tiers: basic, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum.
Through production process and quality improvements, businesses can be re-evaluated for a higher-tier C2C certification. For a product to receive the C2C certification, it must be made of materials that can be safely recycled and must not do harm to both humans and the environment.
Furthermore, the C2C certification considers the use of clean energy, adherence to efficient water usage, and the meeting of corporate social responsibilities during a product’s production process.
As a strong partner to JinkoSolar, SGS has made significant contributions to the development of certification for solar modules. Though a collaborative effort between JinkoSolar and SGS, JinkoSolar achieved the milestone of becoming the first to receive the C2C certification in China. Not only is this milestone beneficial to JinkoSolar’s commitment towards environmental, health, and safety principles, but is evidence of SGS’s strong certification abilities.
As one of the world’s leading testing, inspection, verification, and certification organization, SGS possesses rich industry experience, highly qualified teams of technical experts, and various certification labs around the world to provide testing and certification services to the solar industry.
For C2C certification, SGS can provide a one-stop comprehensive solution to assist companies in meeting the product design, manufacturing, safety, and environmental criteria set forth by the C2C certification process, aiding the ability of companies to expand globally.
JinkoSolar distributes its solar products and sells its solutions and services to a diversified international utility, commercial and residential customer base in China, the US, Japan, Germany, the UK, Chile, South Africa, India, Mexico, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, and other countries and regions.
JinkoSolar has built a vertically integrated solar product value chain, with an integrated annual capacity of 6.0 GW for silicon ingots and wafers, 4.5 GW for solar cells, and 7.5 GW for solar modules, as of June 30, 2017.
JinkoSolar has over 15,000 employees across its 8 productions facilities, five of these in China, the others in Malaysia, Portugal and South Africa; 16 oversea subsidiaries, two of these in Japan, as well as bases in Singapore, India, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Australia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates; and 18 global sales offices, one in Greece, two in China, and the others in the UK, Bulgaria, Romania, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco, Ghana, Kenya, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil and Mexico.