At Trina Solar, we take environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues quite seriously. To show our commitment to this endeavor, we recently released the Trina Solar Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2019-2020. This comprehensive report covers a range of topics, including corporate governance, sustainability efforts, employee well-being and several others. To make this content more manageable for our partners, customers and interested parties, we’ve broken down the highlights into a series of short blogs.

In the first installment of this series, we’ll discuss the progress Trina Solar has made on its sustainable development goals.

Trina smashes its sustainability goals

As a provider of green energy, Trina Solar practices what it preaches. To this end, we’ve implemented company-wide initiatives to boost environmental protections while maintaining  progress toward our business goals.

In 2015, the company established goals that – at the time – seemed ambitious. They included a pledge to cut by 2020 the company’s power consumption by 15% and its water consumption by 10%. We took big steps to save water by reusing reverse osmosis (RO)-rejected water and wastewater. We also identified a host of energy-saving projects and initiatives to curtail our energy consumption as much as possible.

We’re proud to report that in 2019, compared to 2015, we achieved a reduction of:

• 44.3% in power consumption per MW module
• 28% in water consumption per MW module

And in 2020, compared to 2015, we achieved a reduction of:

• 59.7% in power consumption per MW module
• 50.6% in water consumption per MW module

That’s no small feat for a global company with a 2020 operating income of ~$4.5 billion and 14,130 employees worldwide.

In addition, the company’s clean energy production exceeds the company’s electricity consumption. In 2019, Trina Solar consumed 681 million kWh of power for all factories and R&D centers’ operations in China. Meanwhile, the solar power plants owned by Trina Solar in China generated 695 million kWh of clean solar power.

That’s not all. In order to ensure wastewater discharge and exhaust gas emissions fall within environmental standards, we’ve established sophisticated treatment facilities. To meet these goals, Trina Solar's total environmental protection investments for 2019 reached about $6.9 million. In 2020, these protection investments grew to about $9.6 million. Consequently, these inputs spurred a major decline in carbon pollution, which fell 46% in 2019 and 68.6% in 2020 when compared to 2015 levels.

Developing a sustainable PV supply chain

Trina’s efforts to improve sustainable development extends beyond the company’s operations. We’ve been clean energy and low-carbon advocates for the entire PV industry for over a decade. This means we partner with component manufacturers, material distributors and other suppliers that also adhere to stringent social responsibility goals.

Another aspect of improving supply chain sustainability has been promoting the optimization of packaging methods and transportation modes. For example, our 210mm high-powered, high-efficiency Vertex series of modules utilize an innovative packing method allowing a larger number of modules on each shipping truck. This cuts shipping pollution, while it lowers transportation costs by up to 11%, an added benefit.

Trina will continue to increase local supply of products and raw materials, which will jointly promote the sustainable development of the entire PV industry.

The work continues

Despite the significant efforts we’ve put into improving our company’s sustainable development and resource utilization, we’re not done.

Now that Trina has succeeded at far exceeding its 2015 Sustainable Development Goals, we’ve now implemented even more ambitious targets. 

Since April 2020, we have paid keen attention to the RE100 and Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), and have carried out work to prepare to join the RE100 global renewable energy initiative. Trina Solar also supports the organization the United Nations Global Compact, and we are striving to contribute more economically, socially and environmentally sound solutions to help achieve the UN 2030 sustainable development goals.

Moving forward, Trina Solar will continue leading in creating a global green culture. We will play an active role in advancing green manufacturing, implementing green strategies and standards, and building greener and more sustainable manufacturing systems that are efficient, clean, low carbon and ecological.

Check back soon for part two in Trina Solar’s series that breaks down its Corporate Social Responsibility Report.

To learn more, download Trina Solar’s 2019-2020 Corporate Social Responsibility Report, or reach out to one of our solar experts today.