Green Transition & Int'l Cooperation: Chinese Firms Explore New Opportunities in NYC Climate Week
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the United Nations' ESG initiative. In late September during New York Climate Week, a green entrepreneur delegation led by Chinese entrepreneur Wang Shi actively participated in several important events, focusing on the responsibilities and innovations of companies in climate change, carbon-neutral economy, and sustainable development.
At the Green CEO Roundtable co-hosted by Deepstone Group, the United Nations Global Compact, and the Asia Society, leaders from businesses, think tanks, and philanthropic fund organizations around the world exchanged views on key issues for global companies, including "Transforming Climate Risks into Business Opportunities, Collaborating to Create a Sustainable Future" and "Corporate Climate Action and Opportunities for Participation in COP29."
Government and business need to drive together
Melissa Powell, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact, emphasized that discussions and improvements on climate issues require the joint efforts of governments and businesses. She mentioned the China Strategy released at the 2022 United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit, expressing her hope to help companies form a positive collective impact in green sustainable development.
Xia Wei, Vice Chairman of the Asia Society, stated that in addressing the challenge of climate change, China and the United States need to find an appropriate way to cooperate. Relying solely on their own strength is far from enough, and such exchanges and dialogues help seek more possibilities.
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Wang Shi, founder of Vanke Group and Deepstone Group, and Chairman of the Vanke Public Welfare Foundation, reviewed the continuous efforts in the field of climate change and green transformation over the past 20 years since co-founding the Alashan SEE Ecological Association with hundreds of entrepreneurs in 2004, pointing out that cooperation and innovation are key to addressing climate change.
He also stated that he will continue to lead Chinese companies committed to practicing ESG with Deepstone Group to join the United Nations Global Compact and continue to cooperate with the United Nations Global Compact Office in China, holding CEO roundtable meetings during New York Climate Week each year.
Zhao Dong, Chairman of Xiamen Airlines and a member of the United Nations Global Compact Board, shared the company's green transformation experience, stating that 90% of the materials in its aircraft cabins are sustainable, and bamboo is used as a substitute for plastic. He called for more Chinese companies to participate in the action to reduce plastic use.With the advent of the carbon-neutral economy era, how should enterprises promote the achievement of sustainable development? What is the significance of cross-border cooperation for global companies?
Sandra Wu, a member of the Board of Directors of the United Nations Global Compact and Chairman and CEO of International Industry Co., Ltd., pointed out that the sustainable development of enterprises is influenced by costs, product added value, and social responsibility, and establishing good ESG goals is an important reflection of brand image.
Deborah Lehr, Vice Chairman and Executive Director of the Paulson Institute, praised the efforts of Chinese enterprises in ESG innovation and emphasized that enterprises should actively understand international market information to promote cooperation. The Chairman of Yingke Law Firm pointed out through the case of agricultural cooperation in Africa that enterprises need to adapt to local culture to establish long-term cooperative relationships.
As a representative of green public welfare organizations, Dong Mei Kong, the founder of Dongrun Public Welfare Foundation, shared the experience of how cooperation between charitable organizations and enterprises has created more possibilities for youth climate education from the perspective of youth participation.
Climate change and business value
Representatives of Chinese and American enterprises shared their innovative solutions. Eric Luo, Vice President of Longi and head of Longi North America Business Center, mentioned that collaborative innovation with upstream and downstream partners has driven the development of the photovoltaic industry.
As a support for the development of new energy, energy storage technology is also a key link. Du Xiaotian, Chairman of the Energy Storage Pioneer Alliance, introduced how the Energy Storage Pioneer Alliance, as an ecological platform in the field of energy storage, empowers upstream and downstream customers in the industry chain through mature integrated system solutions. Du Xiaotian said in an interview with 21st Century Economic Report that enterprises will face many different application scenarios in the next globalization process, hoping to help enterprises find solutions for different application scenarios.
"We need to think about which application scenarios can be explored and developed, which is the first. Second, under the condition of such application scenarios being determined, what are the policies, laws, and regulations of each country, how to do influence services, local project industry chain services, and even local contacts and resources, there will be different system solutions in each country that are worth learning from." Du Xiaotian said."We hope that through this event, we can at least first understand what more concrete application scenarios there are for new energy and energy storage in the American market, and how external companies and Chinese companies can integrate into these scenarios," said Du Xiaotian, expressing the desire to find more specific and implementable solutions to help businesses transform climate change responses into commercial value.
As one of the representatives of young entrepreneurs, Bai Yunfeng, Chairman of Hangzhou Yunku Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., stated that choosing the ESG-related track still starts from value, especially since the domestic "dual carbon" goals were proposed, ESG is no longer perceived as a game for large enterprises; it also contains great value for small businesses.
Yunku Intelligent is one of the leaders in the domestic liquid cooling industry and has taken the lead in the industry to complete the large-scale application of third-party liquid cooling equipment, occupying the first place in the immersion liquid cooling market in the communications industry and other sectors. Bai Yunfeng introduced that the main focus is on solving the energy consumption of data centers, which is a future trend in the AI era.
"Chinese companies are now on the same starting line as the world, because this is a new technology. In recent years, with the popularity of servers and AI chips, the reduction of energy consumption in data centers has been raised to an unprecedented level, and everyone has started to pay attention to this area. This is precisely an opportunity for our startup companies," Bai Yunfeng frankly stated that the trip to New York was very fruitful, "First, it strengthened our confidence because we saw so many people around the world working hard on ESG-related tasks. Second, after communication, we have a better understanding of the potential for future business value, with many gains both in terms of social responsibility and commercial value."
From the ordinary to the extraordinary exploration
"We want to make ordinary things extraordinary," said Lin Haijie, founder and chairman of Dazhu Bamboo Industry, as he showed his phone screen with reports on the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization's participation in the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, mentioning the unique role of bamboo in mitigating and adapting to climate change actions, and incorporating bamboo into the development strategies and action plans of countries to contribute to global sustainable development.
"I believe bamboo will definitely enter a prosperous period, and it is also a historical opportunity," as the person in charge of a traditional enterprise engaged in the development and utilization of bamboo resources, Lin Hai optimistically stated, "We have been doing this for 30 years and are ready to do it for another 30 years." Bamboo is green and environmentally friendly, has good strength, and excellent mechanical properties. Moreover, bamboo grows quickly, and the products are stable and do not deform. China has 20% of the global bamboo resources. The green economy has become a national policy, which is highly valued by the government and enterprises.
Lin Hai told the reporter that in the future, Dazhu Bamboo Industry hopes to cooperate with universities in scientific research, including the University of Cambridge, the University of Edinburgh, Nanjing Forestry University, Zhejiang Forestry University, the Chinese Academy of Forestry Sciences, etc., to integrate technology and apply bamboo resources to a broader range of fields, "Our mission is to become a promoter of global bamboo applications."This event provided a great opportunity for related companies to communicate. Dan Thomas, Director of Communication and Strategic Activities at the United Nations Global Compact, recognized the excellent cases of Chinese companies in the field of climate action and expects more Chinese companies to show their goals and commitments at COP29 and COP30.
Wang Shi revealed that during this year's Azerbaijan Climate Conference (COP29), a Green Value Summit will be held together with the United Nations Global Compact Office in China, bringing together more representatives of Chinese and international companies to participate in the discussion.
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