Kenji Takahashi, CEO, Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun (Daily Automotive News)
Tim Armstrong, Senior Vice President, Automotive Research & Analysis, S&P Global
Shane Akeroyd, President, Asia Pacific and Global Head of Account Management, S&P Global

Juntaro Shimizu, General Manager of Automotive Strategy Planning Office, Automobile Division, Director for Automotive and Renewable energy, Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry

Yang Zhao, Vice Chairman, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade - Automotive Division

Shengji Ye, Chief Engineer & Deputy Secretary-General, China Association of Automobile Manufacturers [CAAM]

The impending focus for the global automotive industry in 2021 is the recovery from COVID-19 impacts. However, the coronavirus pandemic is far from being over. Despite accelerating vaccine rollouts across the globe in a bid to progress towards a transition to normality, the world is still facing new waves of the pandemic in various countries with repeating lock-downs.

Additionally, disruptive forces such as the supply shortage with deep repercussions were being felt throughout the industry since late 2020. Shortage of semi-conductor or plastics granule is just a few to be mentioned. What will be the outlook for the automotive industry?

While 2050 carbon neutrality is arguably a mission that should be pursued robustly and consistently, will such aggressive climate target-setting during this time manifest a risk by itself? Some will call this the perfect storm, or is it the new normal?

Henner Lehne, Vice President, Global Vehicle Forecasting, Automotive, S&P Global

On 18 May, The International Energy Agency (IEA) released a 224-page Roadmap for the global energy sector to achieve net-zero by 2050. The report affirms the sector-based approach to decarbonization that investors and companies have been advocating and set out ambitious actions required to achieve the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. An important expectation is that most of the global reductions in CO₂ emissions between now and 2030 in the net-zero pathway come from technologies readily available today. But in 2050, almost half the reductions come from technologies that are currently only at the demonstration or prototype phase. Investors are fully supportive of combating climate change, with two key concerns:

• Some markets are less developed when it comes to government-directed grants and support for developing clean technologies that will take us towards 2050; how will this impact local communities? What determines a ‘just transition’?
• Should the linear reduction method (used in science-based method) be adjusted to reflect the step changes from technologies at the alpha testing phase? How will this be factored into investment valuation? What are the other factors that investors will consider when determining the likelihood of success when considering a net-zero transition for companies in the automotive sector?

Sabrina Zhang, APAC Head of ESG integration, S&P Global

Presentation Highlights:

• CO₂ regulation outlook and its trajectory for GHG reduction
• Electrification rise and its enabler for targets achievement
• Investment outlook to meet CO₂ compliance
• Climate-related disclosure influence towards a net-zero emission
• Policy pathways towards achieving a zero-carbon transport sector
• WTW emission and its influence on sustainability disclosure

Vijay Subramanian, Global Director, CO₂ Compliance, Cost and Powertrain Forecasting, S&P Global

Presentation Highlights:

• Autonomous driving’s contribution to a decline in vehicle ownership
• Automated mobility reduces public transport usage
• Automated mobility and vehicle-to-road synergy bring about improved traffic efficiency
• Automated mobility reduces carbon emissions during parking
• The popularization of automated mobility will change the urban layout of parking spaces and restores greenery.

Dong Wei, Vice President and Chief Safety Operations Officer of Intelligent Driving Group, Baidu - Apollo

Tony Weber, Chief Executive, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) Australia

The world has seen the devastating effects of global warming, with wild fires, floods and rising sea levels threatening people's lives in many countries. Many countries have signed up to the Paris Agreement to achieve a climate neutral world by mid-century. In the automotive world, we are seeing many automotive OEMs roll out electric vehicles to cut carbon emission. Electric vehicles have many challenges - in getting a good driving range, in the manufacturing of batteries, vehicle performance and safety, driver and passenger experience etc. In this presentation, we share how customers can accelerate the development of Electric vehicles and achieve the quality required.

Boon Choon Lim, President, Korea, ASEAN, Pacific, India at Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence

The role of FCEV MIRAI for the realization of carbon neutrality and the strategy for FCEV popularization will be introduced. The appeal and "reborn" of the 2nd generation MIRAI to fulfill this role will also be discussed.

Yoshikazu Tanaka, Chief Engineer ZS. MS Product Planning, Mid-size Vehicle Company, Toyota Motor Corporation

Shinichiro Oka, Director General, Vehicle Safety and Environment Division, Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association