On May 13, the high-profile 2024 Fortune China ESG Influence List was officially announced, and a total of 100 companies won this honor. 10 member companies of the China Entrepreneur Club & Enterprise Green Development Research Institute were selected: Lenovo Group, Beike Holdings, Midea Group, Alibaba, Hisense Group, iFLYTEK, TCL Technology, Xiaomi Group, Fosun International and Golden Arches (China) Co., Ltd.
Lenovo Group's carbon accounting platform, Beike Holdings' real estate service, Midea Group's green manufacturing, Alibaba's cloud computing and big data carbon reduction solutions, Hisense Group's low-carbon product recycling, iFLYTEK's animal diversity research and promotion of rural employment, TCL Technology's low-carbon campus donation, Xiaomi Group's carbon neutrality commitment, Fosun International's active response to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and Golden Arches (China) Co., Ltd.'s green restaurants and energy-saving measures became the highlights of the selection.
According to Fortune, despite severe macroeconomic challenges, China's ESG practices are still moving forward steadily, becoming an action guide for the company's lasting competitiveness. These companies on this list have earned the respect of the market for their exceptional efforts to improve the environment, protect their employees, support their communities, and navigate the economic cycle with sustained and inclusive growth.
Here are the reasons why the 10 CEC member companies were selected:
Lenovo Group: Drawing on the company's rich experience in reducing carbon emissions, Lenovo has launched a service-oriented product with environmental data statistics as the core - "Lenovo Enterprise Carbon Accounting Platform", which aims to help customers achieve their specific environmental data needs. In addition, the company launched an innovative "decarbonized transportation service" in September 2023.
Beike Holdings: Its real estate service has ensured 100% coverage of real listings on the platform for 12 consecutive years, and this proportion has been maintained at more than 95% for a long time. The company has also provided "hidden reporting" services for more than 5,000 cooperative real estate projects.
Midea Group: By the end of 2023, Midea Group has established 28 national green factories, 3 zero-carbon factories, 9 5G factories and 5 factories known as the world's lighthouses. The company recycled 3.098 million used household appliances and incorporated sustainability indicators into the performance evaluation system of senior executives to promote the company's sustainable green development.
Picture: Midea Group's green factory
Alibaba: In fiscal year 2023, Alibaba's operational carbon emissions decreased by nearly 13% year-on-year, equivalent to a reduction of 700,000 tons of carbon emissions. The company's environmental efforts have also led to a joint reduction of 22.907 million tons of carbon emissions by partners and consumers. Alibaba has pledged to shift 100% of its cloud computing service to clean energy starting in 2030. In addition, more than 14,000 suppliers have signed the Alibaba Supplier ESG Code of Conduct, a 10% year-on-year increase.
Chart: Alibaba drives and empowers platform ecosystem decarbonization, Source: Alibaba Environmental, Social and Governance Report 2023
Hisense Group: A number of its factories are gradually realizing photovoltaic power generation, with an annual power generation capacity of 70 million kWh, accounting for more than 11% of the company's total electricity consumption. The company has established 13 national green factories. In 2023, Hisense Group will recycle 753,500 old home appliances, with a total of about 34,800 tons, and about 30,000 tons of processable materials will be recycled.
Picture: In 2023, Hisense released the Green Planet Renewal Plan
iFLYTEK: Using its sound recognition technology to conduct animal diversity research, such as supporting large-scale spatiotemporal monitoring of birds by holding the "Bird Cry Recognition" challenge. The company also uses artificial intelligence technology to provide employment opportunities in rural areas, such as the Hakka voice annotation center established in Xunwu, Jiangxi Province, to help local villagers achieve employment at their doorsteps.
TCL Technology: As of November 2023, TCL Technology, through its foundation, has cooperated with TCL Zhonghuan to donate and build 20 photovoltaic low-carbon campuses nationwide, with a total installed capacity of 1218.15kW. These campuses are expected to provide 40.71 million kWh of green electricity in the whole life cycle, which is equivalent to saving about 13,077 tons of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 32,257 tons.
Pictured: Wei Xue, Vice President of TCL Technology Group and Director of ESG Office, attended the COP28 United Nations Climate Change Conference
Xiaomi Group: At the end of 2023, it released the Carbon Neutrality Action Report, pledging to achieve carbon neutrality at the level of existing business operations by 2040 and achieve 100% renewable energy use. The company plans to recycle 38,000 tonnes of e-waste between 2022 and 2026, and has invested a total of 5,000 tonnes of recycled materials in product manufacturing.
Fosun International: Identifying and responding to a number of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, such as Guilin Pharma, a subsidiary of Guilin Pharma, which is the manufacturer with the largest number of WHO-PQ certified antimalarial drugs in the world; Wolford is the first apparel brand in the world to receive both Cradle to Cradle ® Gold certification for both bio-circularity and technology circularity. In 2023, employees spent a total of 34,476 hours participating in public welfare.
Golden Arches (China) Co., Ltd.: As of February 2024, McDonald's China has made remarkable achievements in the construction of green restaurants, with more than 2,700 LEED-certified green restaurants, becoming the enterprise with the largest number of such restaurants in the world. The company has also taken a number of steps to reduce the use of packaging materials, including phasing out the boxes of McSpicy Chicken Leg Burger, McSweetfish and Grilled Chicken Thigh Burger and switching to single-layer wrapping paper, which has reduced paper usage by nearly 80%. In addition, McDonald's China has phased out plastic straws, reducing plastic consumption by about 400 tons per year. In 2023, the company launched the "Energy Steward" system, which has saved more than 5 million kWh of electricity.
Picture: The exterior of McDonald's Yunshan Tiandi Restaurant, China's first "zero-carbon restaurant" integrating photovoltaic and storage in Guangzhou