"Sustainable things can't be sustainable if they're not commercially sustainable. ”
On April 22, World Earth Day, the ANTA brand opened its first carbon-neutral store on Wukang Road in Shanghai, ANTAZERO ANTA 0 Carbon Mission Store.
On the same day, Xu Yang, CEO of Anta, said in an interview that the opening of this store was not for show, but for Anta to explore a complete business model around ESG.
Whether an environmental protection measure can be successfully promoted depends largely on whether the "green premium" is a bit high and whether it can be affordable for everyone.
Xu Yang gave an example of a light bulb, if an environmentally friendly light bulb sells for 150 yuan and a non-environmental light bulb sells for 50 yuan, consumers will not pay more for environmental protection, "everyone will still find the cheapest one".
As Bill Gates explains in his book "Climate Economy and the Future of Humanity", no one will buy an electric car because of ESG. But if the price of electric vehicles can make consumers feel more cost-effective after purchase, then people will buy electric vehicles instead of gasoline vehicles.
ANTA wants to turn the green premium into green benefits, so that it can achieve business sustainability.
"We're not doing public good, we're doing a sustainable model. Xu Yang explained that when Anta really started to do ESG, he found that there was a lot to think about. Supply chains, production and transportation, retail terminals, consumer interactions, etc., all need to meet standards and form a complete value chain.
Xu Yang, CEO of ANTA
According to him, at the level of Anta Group, there are two strategic priorities, one is to go overseas, and the other is ESG. "The point of the zero-carbon store is to show the process of achieving the promise in a transparent way, and accept everyone's supervision. ”
As a Hong Kong-listed company, more than half of the top 20 shareholders of ANTA Group are ESG-focused investors. In 2021, the Group established a Sustainability Committee to start an inventory of carbon data of its brands and upstream and downstream supply chains, and disclose it to the public.
In this process, in order to meet the Group's overall goal of "achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and increasing the proportion of sustainable products to 50% by 2030", ANTA has taken the approach of assigning tasks to each brand, with each brand taking part of the target.
In 2023, 20% of the products sold by ANTA Group met ESG standards. Huang Cuiqi, Senior Director of ESG of ANTA Group, said, "Although the Sustainability Committee has only been established for two years, ANTA's strength as a company is its ability to execute, and once the KPIs are determined, each brand will definitely implement them."
According to a table of product carbon footprints provided by ANTA, the actual carbon reduction ratio of several products displayed does not seem to be high, among which the air armor jacket with the highest carbon reduction rate has a carbon reduction of 11%. An employee at the scene said that there is a certain cost to verify and calculate the carbon footprint, but the real significance of this expenditure is to analyze the largest source of carbon emissions in a product, trace the whole chain, and find solutions for further carbon reduction.
As the first carbon-neutral store certified by an authoritative organization in China's footwear and apparel industry. From concept launch, store decoration, to display and sales, ANTA ZERO gradually checks carbon emissions and fulfills the mission of zero carbon from the details.
According to Anta, the store has achieved more than 30% emission reduction during the renovation and construction process. In addition, through the analysis of the overall data, the two links of building materials and prop materials have the largest emissions, and there is still room for further emission reduction. Assuming 100% recycled and recycled materials for building materials and props, 100% second-hand equipment purchased, and carbon reduction in other links, then the first zero-carbon mission store can reduce emissions by nearly 60%.
At present, nearly 20% of ANTA Group's products meet the ESG standards set internally. Huang Cuiqi, senior director of ESG at ANTA Group, said that by 2030, this proportion will increase to 50%.
According to Huang Cuiqi, ANTA Group has taken the lead in setting up a sustainable development committee, including Ding Shizhong, chairman of the board of directors, and Yao Weixiong, president of FILA Greater China.
On the same day, ANTA Group simultaneously disclosed its ESG report: MSCI's rating was upgraded by two consecutive levels to "BBB", and in 2023, ANTA Group's total greenhouse gas emission intensity decreased by 3.6% and total water consumption intensity decreased by 9.0%.
Huang said that Anta has made a lot of efforts in areas such as chemicals, supply chain, labor management, and corporate governance. At present, Anta has the highest MSCI score among domestic sports brands.
Why did Anta go to such great lengths to build a zero-carbon store, and why should ESG be a strategic priority for the Group?
Xu Yang believes that ESG must be the direction of the future, and the sooner the layout is made, the more beneficial it is. He saw the changes on the streets of downtown Shanghai, where there were fewer and fewer fuel vehicles, and cars with large displacements could no longer be on the road.
"How do you know that the apparel industry won't change like that in the future?"
Author: Li Hanzhang