Ecological and Environmental Protection Policy

I. Purpose

Concord New Energy Group Limited (the “Group”) places great importance on ecological and environmental protection at its project sites, strictly adheres to relevant local laws and regulations, and implements ecological protection measures in parallel with the main construction project.

II. Governance

The Group has set up an ESG Committee at the Board level to annually obtain the data required to assess ESG risks, overseeing the environmental protection and other ESG related matters. The Board of Directors is responsible for setting the tone at the top for ESG strategic objectives and reviews it annually, ensuring that the ESG strategy aligns with the overall development of the Group. The Board of Directors is the ultimate responsible party for ESG matters. The ESG Committee assists the Board in overseeing the Group’s ecological and environmental protection issues.

III. Applicability

The Policy as mentioned herein acts as a public statement of intent and is applicable to all the personnel of Concord New Energy Group and all its subsidiaries (branches) under its operational control. The Group will also communicate this Policy to its contractors, suppliers (including logistics service providers) and partners and push forward its active implementation. Furthermore, this Policy is also applicable to the invested construction and operational projects by the Group including the wind farms, photovoltaic power stations, energy storage projects and other business projects under its ownership. For EPC projects, external operation and maintenance projects and planned acquistion targets or projects, proper reference to this Policy is required in the conduct of their relevant activities.

IV. Commitment

The Group is committed to refraining from arbitrary deforestation, respecting statutory protected areas, and minimizing the negative impact of its business operations on the ecological environment and biodiversity.

V. Environmental Philosophy

The Concord New Energy Group (herein referred to as “the Group”) is fully committed to the clean energy field and focuses on providing clean energy of superior quality as its proactive response to climate changes globally. The Group actively highlights the proper conduct of eco-environmental protection activities and follows the concept of implementing proper development under protection and delivering proper protection under development.

The Group strictly abides by the various laws and regulations on the national eco-environmental protection in the execution of its projects and has formulated its own specific environmental systems including the Management System of Eco-environmental Protection of Concord New Energy Group Limited in strict accordance with the relevant laws on environmental protection issued by the People’s Republic of China.

The Group has developed a Management System of Eco-environmental Protection on a whole-process basis and clearly defined the management executor and responsibilities for the three stages including the development stage, construction stage and production stage involved in the invested construction and operational projects by the Group.

The Group has established appropriate goals in environmental protection and discloses its performances in the corresponding environmental protection activities to the public on a regular basis for supervision by its investors and the society. The Group has proper plans in place to implement internal and external environmental audits on a meticulously designed basis with a view to constantly improving its performances in environmental protection and ensuring the intended execution of environmental protection activities and sustainable development.

VI. Water and Soil Conservation

The Group will step up its efforts and inputs in water and soil conservation in the execution of its projects. A specific and thorough scheme on water and soil conservation will be properly developed prior to the implementation of a project, the “three stimultaneous” set for water and soil conservation will be strictly accomplished during the construction and the procedures for the management of water and soil conservation activities will be improved on a continuous basis.

• Rigorous standards are in place for design requirements and scheme approval to ensure that the various water and soil conservation measures are proper, comprehensive and feasible;
• Optimization is carried out during project design to avoid the vegetation area to the maximum extent possible, suitable vegetation is selected and reasonably feasible measures are formulated to ensure the survival rate of the vegetation according to the topography, geomorphology and climate characteristics of each area subjected to environmental governance;
• The construction technology is constantly updated to reduce damage to the mountains and vegetation. The construction scheme with minor disruptions is selected to reduce disturbances to the original landform while facilitating the later vegetation restoration according to the engineering geological conditions.

VII. Forest Protection

The Group adheres to forest management regulations in its areas of operation, ensuring the strict protection of forest lands that play vital ecological roles or are environmentally fragile and sensitive. It prohibits any reckless construction that could harm forests or trees and actively avoids deforestation. None of the Group’s project sites or operational areas pose a risk of deforestation. The Group is dedicated to collaborating with suppliers and partners to mitigate deforestation risks across the supply chain and to contribute to forest conservation.

VIII. Biodiversity Conservation

The site of a project shall be selected to avoid woodland, protected areas and water sources in strict accordance with the national regulations to offer proper protection for the biological habitat. In the feasibility study report of a certain project, the impact on biodiversity shall be assessed, including the possible damage to natural habitats and modified habitats, whether the project site is a legally protected area, and whether it introduces invasive alien species, and corresponding protection and restoration measures shall be formulated as required where appropriate.

Impacts on biodiversity are also considered in the Group’s business operations. The Group is committed to protecting biodiversity and adopts an approach that balances conservation needs with development priorities, promoting the sustainable management and use of natural resources. To this end, the Group has developed appropriate protection plans and implemented a range of measures. When necessary, qualified third-party professionals are engaged to conduct field surveys on biodiversity to avoid or minimize potential adverse impacts during business activities.

The Group stresses constantly cultivating the awareness of biodiversity conservation among its employees, customers, suppliers and contractors, mobilizing its employees in conducting biodiversity conservation, and appropriately commending its employees for their independent conservation-based actions.

IX. Environmental Monitoring

The Group contracts an organization with proper qualifications to monitor the waste and other rejects generated during the construction process, and to monitor indicators and data such as groundwater, surface water, atmosphere, noise and electromagnetic radiation.

The Group conducts regular and irregular inspections at project sites, strictly implements environmental monitoring requirements, and performs patrol-based inspections and record-keeping in accordance with relevant regulations to ensure that the ecological environment within each site’s area of responsibility remains protected from damage.

X. Waste Management

The Group proactively identifies and classifies the wastes that may be generated in the business process and their impacts, and formulates corresponding measures based on the classification of solid wastes, hazardous wastes, wastewater and other wastes to ensure the harmless treatment of wastes. The Group actively makes use of advanced technologies, processes, equipment, and management measures to achieve waste reduction right at its source and establish an appropriate waste recycling system.

The Group manages solid wastes and hazardous wastes based on their classification in accordance with relevant regulations. The Group performs inspections on the stored hazardous waste packaging containers and storage facilities on a periodic basis, and takes proper measures to clean and replace the damaged parts in a timely manner. Leakage from hazardous waste storage facilities is to be treated as hazardous waste.

The Group executes rigorous management on the domestic wastewater by sending it to the municipal pipeline network or to greening irrigation through dedicated pipes following proper treatment. It is strictly prohibited to discharge pollutants through concealed conduits, seepage wells, seepage pits, pouring or abnormally operated pollution prevention facilities.

XI. Emergency Plan for Environmental Protection

The Group establishes and maintains an emergency response mechanism to identify and respond to potential events or emergencies in order to prevent and reduce diseases and injuries that may follow.

The Group prepares the Emergency Plan for Environmental Emergencies for the projects during the operation period, organizes relevant training on the plan at least once a year, and conducts emergency drills on a regular basis.

XII. Participation by Various Stakeholders

In addition to improving its own operational model, the Group strives to raise employees’ awareness of ecological and environmental protection through various means. At the same time, it strengthens communication, coordination, and cooperation with suppliers, contractors, surrounding communities, and other stakeholders on environmental management and protection, with the goal of generating greater environmental benefits.

For employees

• Incorporate the training and education plan on environmental protection into the employee training and education program, conduct regular ecological environment protection training for the employees, and record the training details in the employee training documentation.
• The Code of Ethics & Conduct requires employees to raise their awareness of environmental protection and the employees are encouraged to minimize energy consumption and carbon emissions in their routine business activities.
• Set up environmental signs, marks, slogans, billboards, etc. at the site station.

For suppliers and contractors

• Environmental management practices related to energy, wastewater, and waste are incorporated into the Supplier Code of Conduct and other relevant policies governing the management of suppliers and contractors. Suppliers and contractors are required to commit to implementing environmental management and protection measures in accordance with the applicable standards.
• Provide strong support for regional and project companies in strengthening communication with contractors, improving energy management and resource utilization efficiency, and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions generated during construction activities.
• The Group actively engages with suppliers and partners on environmental risk management, including biodiversity, throughout the entire project development lifecycle to continuously reduce the ecological environmental impacts of its projects.

For communities

• During the pre-development stage of the project, the Group proactively identifies the neighboring communities that will be potentially affected, makes public announcements of project information, collects community opinions, as well as improves the project design to reduce environmental risks.
• During the operation stage of the project, the Group establishes multiple channels of community communication to understand the suggestions and demands of the community through questionnaires, on-site visits, and surveys, etc. The Group will take timely actions to respond to the concerns of the community.

XIII. Policy Review

The Group will conduct necessary reviews of the Policy at regular intervals. The ESG Committee follows up/monitors the implementation of the policy and keeps this policy up to date.