Recently, at the 2022 UN Global Compact Leaders' Summit, Sanda Ojiambo, UN Assistant Secretary-General, and Director-General of the UN Global Compact, made it clear that "the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) cannot be achieved without the participation of China and Chinese companies." In the face of many challenges such as global warming and the COVID-19, the path of sustainable development has not only become a global consensus, but also leads the transformation of enterprises in the new era. In China, more and more companies are acting fast to address regional and global sustainability challenges with responsible business practices.
On June 28, 2022, the Leadership Forum on Sustainable Development and the kick-off of 2022 GoldenKey - SDG Solutions" was held in Beijing. The forum was co-hosted by the China Sustainability Tribune, the Research Center for Green Economy and Sustainable Development of Tsinghua University, the Institute for Sustainable Development Goals of Tsinghua University, and the Institute of Eco-Civilization Studies of Beijing University of Technology, and supported by the Global Compact Network China. Well-known experts, scholars and business representatives from international organizations and academic institutions shared their insights on building China's sustainable development leadership from global professional, and corporate perspectives. It also described the current sustainable development trends of Chinese enterprises, and provided guidance for China on the opportunities and paths of SDGs contribution.
Five enterprise practice consensus to solve the growth puzzle
Speech by Zhu Hongren, Executive Vice President and Chairman of China Enterprise Confederation and China Enterprise Directors Association, Chairman of Global Compact Network China, former member of the Leading Party Members Group and Chief Engineer of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Zhu Hongren, Executive Vice President and Chairman of China Enterprise Confederation and China Enterprise Directors Association, Chairman of Global Compact Network China, former member of the Leading Party Members Group and Chief Engineer of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, delivered a speech on "Solving the Puzzle of Enterprise Growth in the VUCA Era". He pointed out that the current world is in a VUCA era. Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous have become the most significant characteristics of the current situation. Enterprises has never been more important and urgent than today to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Only when the international community is united, open, and cooperative, and enterprises also take active action, can we break through the uncertainty of the VUCA era and create a better world.
He said that the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its goals have redefined the framework of sustainable development and charted a new path for enterprises. How should Chinese companies make good use of the "golden key" of "sustainable development" to solve the current global problems and the growing puzzles? In this regard, he shared five consensus based on the practices of Chinese enterprises:
● First, adhere to inclusive growth and integrate the Sustainable Development Goals;
● Second, highlight people-oriented and share the achievements of sustainable development;
● Third, strengthen innovation-driven development and enhance the motivation for sustainable development;
● Fourth, apply the green development concept and improve the level of sustainable development;
● Fifth, strengthen international cooperation and expand partnerships for sustainable development.
Nature-enhanced solutions leading to sustainable upgrading
Keynote speech by Pan Jiahua, member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Director of the Institute of Eco-Civilization Studies of Beijing University of Technology.
In his keynote speech, Pan Jiahua, member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and Director of the Institute of Eco-Civilization Studies of Beijing University of Technology, particularly stressed the importance of transforming concepts and slogans into theories and actions, and innovatively put forward the idea of using Nature-enhanced Solutions (NeS, Nature-enhanced Solutions) to lead the progress of implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
He pointed out that there are four main solutions between human development and nature:
● One is the solution of protecting nature, which emphasizes the coexistence of humans and nature, such as biodiversity conservation and urban ecosystem conservation;
● The second is the solution of harnessing nature, such as agricultural civilizations using nature for agricultural, forestry and animal husbandry production, and using rivers for transport functions;
● The third is the solution of depleting nature, such as industrial civilization’s massive exploitation and use of fossil energy to promote the accumulation of material wealth, leading to the depletion and degradation of natural resources;
● The fourth is the solution of Nature-enhanced Solutions, unlike the solution of protecting nature, emphasizes transforming natural resources to serve human economic and social needs through inputs, such as capital, technology and labor. It aims to promote the symbiosis, sharing and co-prosperity between human beings and nature, and to realize an ecological civilization with a multi-win situation.
Nature-enhanced Solutions can support many SDGs with zero-carbon technology products and services, which is an important tool to achieve the "Dual-Carbon" goal. Besides, the solutions also have the advantages of huge market potential, strong employment drive, low pollution emission, and satisfying consumers' well-being, etc. Their specific application cases include photovoltaic, electric vehicle, and gas source/ground source heat pump.
Pan also said that Chinese companies have Nature-enhanced capacity and leadership. For Chinese companies, applying Nature-enhanced Solutions is not only a responsibility, but also a space to expand and continue for the sustainable future, and an important manifestation of Chinese companies' leadership in sustainable development.
Strong demand for sustainable finance, three challenges needed to focus on
Keynote speech by Zhan Xiaoning, Director of the Division on Investment and Enterprise of the United Nations Trade and Development and Editor-in-Chief of the World Investment Report.
Zhan Xiaoning, Director of Division on Investment and Enterprise of the United Nations Trade and Development and Editor-in-Chief of the World Investment Report, shared the latest data and development trends on global sustainable investment and finance, and provided an in-depth analysis of investment for sustainable development.
He pointed out that global sustainable finance was still in its early stages and that the space for further development was opening. Global market demand was very strong, with record high flows to sustainable investment funds and sustainable bonds. In addition, China had become the third largest sustainable investment fund market in the world by 2021, with $50 billion in assets under management. China's sustainable financial products have been embraced by international capital, and China is also playing a leading role in the creation of global sustainable financial regulation. In the rapid development of sustainable finance in the next few years, China's sustainable and green development strategy will inject great momentum into the development of sustainable finance and play a leading role in the world.
At the same time, he also pointed out that the current development of global sustainable investment still faces three major challenges, which require the joint efforts of governments and players on capital market to break through:
● One is scale. Despite the rapid growth of sustainable financial products in recent years, the size of global sustainable investment funds only accounts for about 4% of the global fund market, and the share of sustainable bonds in the global bond market is only about 1%;
● The second is the concern about "greenwashing". Currently, most sustainable financial products globally are self-identified or self-labelled, and there is a lack of consistent standards and high-quality data to assess their sustainability;
● Third, there is an uneven global distribution. Currently, global sustainable financial products are concentrated in markets in developed countries, with developing countries accounting for less than 5%. As a result, the majority of developing countries, which are most in need of sustainable investment, have not benefited from sustainable finance.
Creating the SDG China solutions requires corporate support and youth innovation
Speech by Tong Chong, Global Pioneer of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2022 and Senior Engineer of State Grid Suzhou Power Supply Company.
Tong Chong, a senior engineer at State Grid Suzhou Power Supply Company, as the only Chinese among the ten "Global Pioneers of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2022", presented Chinese youth leadership in contributing to the SDGs. In his speech, he shared in details the implementing and thinking process of the "Dynamic Lightning Protection" project, which won the First Prize of the 2021 GoldenKey – SDG Solutions Award. He expressed his gratitude to the SDG Innovators Programme (YSIP) of UN Global Compact Young and the GoldenKey – SDG Solutions for supporting the project and helping him win international honors.
Based on his own enterprise case, he particularly pointed out that in the process of learning, understanding, and applying the concept of sustainable development, enterprises should deeply understand that sustainable development is not a matter of a single country or a single field, but a common proposition for the whole world and all industries. Therefore, it is necessary to forge a consensus at domestic and abroad and bring together the synergies of all parties to jointly promote SDG-oriented innovative actions.
Shaping sustainable leadership for achieving the win-win development of enterprises and society
The trend towards sustainable transformation has become a major one for enterprises. However, building leadership that is adapted to drive sustainable business is still a shortcoming. The strategic thinking and leadership in many enterprises are struggled to break out of traditional approaches, so they are still facing barriers to drive sustainability strategies and value creation. How to break this barrier? Experts from Business and academic circles gave valuable insights at this event.
Roundtable dialogue on the theme of "Shaping Sustainable Development Leadership by Actively Contributing to SDGs"
Hosted by Professor Zhu Xufeng, Executive Dean of School of Public Policy and Management of Tsinghua University and Executive Director of Tsinghua SDG Institute, representatives of leading domestic and international companies, including Zhou Bing, Global Vice President of Dell Technologies; Wang Jie, Vice President of Schneider Electric; Jiang Yan, Chief Sustainability Officer and Partner of China Grand Prosperity Investment; and Tong Wei, Head of Public Relations and Global Affairs of XAG, engaged in an in-depth dialogue on how to build sustainability leadership and they shared their views from different business fields.
Zhou Bing, Global Vice President of Dell Technologies
Shaping sustainability leadership with three visions
1. Global Vision. Sustainable development is the collective cognition of all mankind. For enterprises, especially transnational enterprises, they should consider the impact of their actions on the whole world.
2. Historical Vision. After the industrial civilization, human beings have been consuming more and more of the earth. Our ancestors did not obstruct our development, then we should not leave obstacles to our own children and grandchildren as well.
3. Scientific and Technological Vision. Many of the development challenges we are currently facing were brought by the technological development in the industrial era. To break through the challenges, we still need to use the power of science and technology.
Jie Wang, Vice President of Schneider Electric
Enhancing corporate’s impact with five aspects is a prerequisite for shaping sustainable development leadership
1. Balancing economic and social benefits. Economic benefits are the basis for business, while social benefits can have a more enduring impact.
2. Considering the interests of shareholders, employees, and supply chain. Through communication with stakeholders, we can help upstream and downstream achieve energy saving and emission reduction.
3. Integrating sustainable development idea into the main business, considering all aspects of business during the process of sustainable transformation.
4. Having the ability to empower customers, helping customers achieve their emission reduction goals through various solutions.
5. Maintaining a corporate culture embracing sustainable development. Connecting sustainable development indicators with employees’ performance to make employees feel their work is meaningful and motivated.
Jiang Yan, Chief Sustainability Officer and Partner of China Grand Prosperity Investment
Four characteristics of an investee company with sustainable development leadership
1. A clear top-level strategy of sustainable development. The management team is motivated and ability for self-reformation, and a forward-looking, inclusive, and open mindset.
2. A clear roadmap towards sustainable development. They can implement the strategy into the daily operation of the enterprise, especially efficiently match the sustainable development issues related to their own business model and promote the implementation.
3. A professional sustainable development implementation team. They can attach importance to green talents, and avoid the situation that the top management has the awareness of reformation while the lower-middle levels do not have the knowledge.
4. A "big" vision to shape the sustainable industry ecosystem and mutually empower the stakeholders.
Tong Wei, Head of Public Relations and Global Affairs of XAG
Technology-based companies with sustainability leadership should lead the industry with science and technology innovation.
In agriculture, for example, many rural areas are still being produced in an unsustainable manner, and traditional pesticide spraying techniques fail to collect effective production data. Agricultural drone technology can increase farmers’ incomes while reducing their production costs. The contribution of such technologies on the agriculture development reflects how the technology promotes sustainable development in agriculture.
Zhu Xufeng, Executive Dean of School of Public Policy and Management of Tsinghua University and Executive Director of Tsinghua SDG Institute, hosted the roundtable dialogue.
Zhu Xufeng summarized the roundtable dialogue. He said, enterprises need the core technology and core products to promote sustainable development. Enterprises should connect their own development direction with the whole society. Through the promotion of local and national sustainable development, the enterprises achieve their own sustainable development and the common development goals of the whole society.
The GoldenKey is the leadership in sustainable development.
Book Launch of "The GoldenKey: Outstanding Sustainable Solutions of Chinese Enterprises”
The new book "The GoldenKey: Outstanding Sustainable Solutions of Chinese Enterprises" was released at this event. This book includes 28 excellent SDG practices of enterprises collected from the 2021 “GoldenKey - SDG Solutions”. It is co-edited and published by the China Sustainability Tribune and the Research Center for Green Economy and Sustainable Development of Tsinghua University.
Speech by Qian Xiaojun, Head Coach of the GoldenKey Campaign, Associate Dean of Academics of Schwarzman College and Director of Research Center for Green Economy and Sustainable Development of Tsinghua University.
Professor Qian Xiaojun, Head Coach of the GoldenKey Campaign, Associate Dean of Academics of Schwarzman College and Director of Research Center for Green Economy and Sustainable Development of Tsinghua University, and Editor-in-Chief of “The GoldenKey: Outstanding Sustainable Solutions of Chinese Enterprises”, said that sustainable development leadership is the ability to identify the problems related to sustainable development, the ability and willingness to search for solutions, and ultimately to take actions to promote solutions. The GoldenKey Campaign is shaping the leadership of sustainable development. It continuously publishes a book collection every year to disseminate the excellent cases and actions of Chinese enterprises, driving more enterprises to make joint efforts for sustainable development and continuously expand the influence of sustainable development.
She summarized five common characteristics of the GoldenKey excellent enterprises:
● First, a strong sense of responsibility with the self-awareness and ambition to promote sustainable development transformation.
● Second, a keen sense of awareness to accurately define sustainable development issues of universal significance.
● Third, the ability of thinking outside the box and creatively finding easier solutions.
● Fourth, the ability of well-coordination and bringing strengths and resources together to implement solutions.
● Fifth, the ability of storytelling and leading the industry, value chain, and partners to act together.
She expects that with the help of the GoldenKey Campaign, Chinese enterprises can build and strengthen their sustainability leadership, take more initiative to assume the responsibility of a great country in global sustainable development, and establish and exert China's sustainability leadership in the world.
2022 GoldenKey event officially launched.
Yu Zhihong, Initiator of GoldenKey Campaign, President and Editor-in-Chief of China Sustainability Tribune, introduces the persistence and innovation of the 2022 GoldenKey Campaign.
At the official launching of the new GoldenKey event, Yu Zhihong, Initiator of GoldenKey Campaign and the president and editor-in-chief of China Sustainability Tribune, said that this year's GoldenKey will realize many innovations by persistently maintaining the same objectives, evaluation criteria and evaluation process. In addition to launching the "GoldenKey Competition", it will also include two new categories of "ESG Innovation" and "Resilient Value Chain", and continue to make efforts to enhance its influence at domestic and abroad.
2022 "GoldenKey – SDG Solutions" Launched
Under the witness of guests from all walks of life and online audiences, the 2022 "GoldenKey – SDG Solutions" was officially launched. As an event dedicated to finding and building a "golden key" to solve global problems, the "GoldenKey - SDG Solutions" was launched in October 2020 by China Sustainability Tribune. Since then, nearly 300 excellent actions from more than 200 leading enterprises have been gathered, demonstrating the action and leadership of Chinese enterprises in contributing to SDGs.
