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Text | 36 Carbon Editorial Department

In mid-July, less than two weeks before the start of the first phase of the "36 Carbon Round Table", we created a WeChat group to make it easier for users to sign up for the event.

I originally thought it was just to collect registration information, but the messages in the group have not stopped until today. It makes sense, we are in the same industry, and we are interested in similar topics. It is not easy to have a platform to bring everyone together. Questions are asked and answered, resources are exchanged, and many people absorb the information in the group like a sponge thrown into water.

36 Carbon Round Table Community, this is just a record of communication within a few minutes.

This enthusiasm was extended to offline. On July 25, the first "36 Carbon Roundtable" was held in Shanghai. Soon after the event started, we were worried that there would not be enough seats on site. After strictly controlling the number of applicants, we only notified 90 professional users to come to the site. Their backgrounds involved energy, investment, consulting, manufacturing, NGOs, fashion technology... In the end, the audience attendance rate exceeded 90%, and with some friends who registered on site, we could only temporarily add a few rows of seats.

The packed house is also related to the guests we invited. This time we invited Liu Xungong, Vice President and Head of Supply Chain Center of Dongpeng Holdings, Stone Wang, Head of ESG Sustainability of SHEIN China, and Yao Weizhou, Director of Sustainability of Budweiser China Asia Pacific. The three guests represent local manufacturing companies, domestic global giants, and multinational companies, and share their practical ideas on ESG from their own perspectives.

What moved us was that during the more than three-hour event, almost no one left early. There were even quite a few audience members who used notebooks to write down the key points of the guests' speeches one by one. The atmosphere on the scene seemed to have returned to our school days. Although we were ignorant at that time, we had the purest desire for knowledge.

The interactive session, which was thought to be enough for an hour, was repeatedly extended to nearly an hour and a half due to everyone's enthusiastic questions. Even so, until the end of the event, some audiences were still not satisfied and continued to chat with the guests.

36 Carbon Round Table Event Site

It is difficult to say which was hotter, the heat of the salon or the temperature in Shanghai, but seeing the audience hanging around the guests for a long time after the event, reluctant to leave, we firmly believe that the "36 Carbon Roundtable" is valuable, and we will continue to hold this kind of small-scale exchange activities.

If you also want to participate in the subsequent activities, you can scan the QR code at the end of the article to add the 36 Carbon Assistant WeChat. Note: 36 Carbon Roundtable guest registration/audience registration, private message the assistant: company + position + name, the assistant will create a group after review. For details, see: "Looking for ESG fellow travelers, "36 Carbon Roundtable" recruits guests and professional audiences"

It is not easy to prepare for the event. 36Carbon also welcomes all forms of business cooperation to help us enter more cities and more companies to gather greater ESG power. If you are willing to go with us, you can also add 36Carbon Assistant WeChat, and we will have someone to provide business cooperation consultation.

The following are excerpts from the first guest speeches at the "36 Carbon Roundtable" on July 25. Since it was a closed-door event, we only released a very small summary of the content of the day, which was edited and published:

Liu Xungong of Dongpeng Holdings: Enterprises need to have a sense of crisis and responsibility to develop for good

"Awareness of crisis" and "responsibility" are the two key words most often mentioned by Liu Xungong, vice president of Dongpeng Holdings and head of the supply chain center, when talking about corporate sustainable practices. In his view, "if we cannot avoid it, we must have the courage to take responsibility."

Low-carbon Dongpeng, a pioneer in green building. Since 2014, Dongpeng Holdings has paid close attention to the issue of "sustainable development" and regarded it as an important piece of the puzzle in its corporate strategy. With the clear proposal of the country's "dual carbon" goals, the company has formulated a practical strategic plan.Through the low-carbonization of industry, production and energy, a low-carbon management and operation system covering all links and the entire chain as well as a green and low-carbon development model have been established., committed to becoming a leader in low-carbon technology in the ceramic industry.

Liu Xungong, Vice President of Dongpeng Holdings and Head of Supply Chain Center

In order to promote carbon peak and carbon neutrality, Dongpeng Holdings has formulated a three-step plan to further promote green and low-carbon transformation. At the same time, it has started sustainable practices from aspects such as energy structure optimization, equipment technology upgrade, supply chain carbon management upgrade, green value chain construction, low-carbon standard formulation, and digital upgrade.

In addition, Dongpeng has also explored a disruptive path of industrial upgrading, continuously invested in and actively practiced the ecological stone industry, and developed green and low-carbon new materials that do not require firing through innovative research and development of ecological new materials. This not only reduces energy consumption and carbon emissions, but also opens up new market opportunities for the company. While improving its own competitiveness, it also provides valuable experience and inspiration for the green transformation of the entire ceramic industry.

Driven by its sustainable mission, Dongpeng not only became the first domestic ceramics company to officially join the United Nations Global Compact, but was also listed as one of the first batch of green factory demonstration units by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

SHEIN China Stone Wang: Sustainable development is all about people

As the builder of SHEIN China's ESG team and system, Stone Wang, head of SHEIN China's ESG sustainability, has unique insights into how to integrate ESG concepts into the company's daily operations and long-term strategies.

Stone Wang pointed out that SHEIN is committed to creating new quality productivity and promoting the sustainable development of the fashion industry through innovative business models and full-process ESG practices.

First of all, from the business model, SHEIN's on-demand production and flexible supply chain model reduces waste from the source. By using real-time trend analysis to identify market trends and consumer demand, SHEIN has achieved dynamic adjustment of production starting from ultra-small batch production.

In terms of building a sustainable supply chain ecosystem, SHEIN provides suppliers with technical empowerment, training support, factory expansion and community charity activities.In 2023, SHEIN announced plans to increase investment by RMB 500 million over the next five years to support the development of the supplier community.

In addition, SHEIN has also rooted ESG in the entire process of daily production and operations, and has made efforts in multiple links such as raw materials, R&D technology and processes, production and manufacturing warehousing logistics, product packaging and transportation, and product recirculation, with plans to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by more than 25% by 2030.

The three pillars of the evoluShein strategy, namely "human" equal empowerment, "Earth" collective resilience, and "process" lean innovation, are integrated throughout.

Stone Wang emphasized that "people are the most important thing for sustainable development." He not only focuses on standardized factory construction and improving the food and accommodation environment of suppliers,The "Children's Home" project also provides a child-friendly space for the children of supplier employees to relieve the pressure of childcare for employees. In addition, the "Starlight Gathering" project provides financial assistance such as schooling and disease treatment for supply chain workers who are experiencing financial difficulties.

In addition, SHEIN plans to invest $35 million in the next five years to expand or create impact projects to empower women, promote gender equality, support young people's development and alleviate global poverty. These projects will cover multiple countries and regions including China, Brazil, Turkey and Poland.

SHEIN requires all suppliers to undergo a SHEIN Responsible Sourcing (SRS) assessment to ensure social and environmental compliance.In 2023, SHEIN conducted 3,990 SRS procurement assessments on suppliers without third-party notification and held more than 400 responsible procurement-related training sessions.

Yao Weizhou of Budweiser Asia Pacific: Suppliers cannot just purchase carbon emission certificates to meet emission reduction requirements

As the world's leading beer producer, Budweiser Asia Pacific's sustainable development strategy covers a number of key areas including water protection, circular packaging, sustainable agriculture, climate action, etc.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Budweiser's business covers China, South Korea, India and Vietnam, operating more than 40 breweries and more than 50 brands. As the director of sustainable development for Budweiser China Asia Pacific, Yao Weizhou is actively exploring the path to carbon reduction across the entire value chain of the company and has shared many practical results.

Yao Weizhou, Director of Sustainable Development Procurement, Budweiser Asia Pacific

According to Yao Weizhou, by the end of last year, Budweiser Asia Pacific's carbon emissions in scope 1 and scope 2 had dropped by 68%, while scope 3 emissions had also dropped by 23.8%. He attributed this achievement in part to the increase in the proportion of new energy use. By laying a large number of solar panels in factories and signing more green power agreements, 82.9% of Budweiser Asia Pacific's electricity purchases came from renewable energy.

To further promote emission reduction, Budweiser APAC is also committed to improving the sustainability of the entire supply chain. Through internal training and maturity analysis, it helps suppliers understand the importance of sustainable development and provides the necessary knowledge and tools.

Yao Weizhou said that Budweiser Asia PacificA series of training courses have been developed, ranging from basic sustainability standards to advanced certifications, to help suppliers improve their sustainability practices. In addition, third-party consulting companies are used to help suppliers conduct carbon footprint assessments and develop emission reduction plans, and by incorporating these emission reduction targets into contract terms, we ensure that suppliers work together with us to achieve carbon neutrality.

Yao Weizhou particularly emphasized thatBudweiser Asia Pacific is very cautious when setting carbon reduction targets for suppliers."Our goal is to prevent sending the wrong message to suppliers that requirements can be met simply by reducing carbon emissions. We do not want them to rely solely on purchasing carbon emission certificates to meet emission reduction requirements. Instead, we encourage suppliers to start from their own emission baselines, carefully plan and implement effective emission reduction measures to achieve the goal of continuously reducing carbon emissions." We ensure that these measures are effectively implemented by regularly monitoring and evaluating suppliers' emission reduction projects.

In addition, Budweiser Asia Pacific is also actively involved in innovation projects, supporting potential entrepreneurial teams to address challenges in the process of sustainable development through their innovative solutions. The company's accelerator projects around the world not only provide financial and resource support to entrepreneurial teams, but also help them transform laboratory innovations into commercial applications.

Roundtable: ESG is an opportunity for long-term development and innovation of enterprises

On the core question of "Is ESG a cost item?", the three guests agreed that ESG is not a cost burden, but an opportunity for long-term development and innovation of enterprises.

Liu Gongxun emphasized that ESG practice requires corporate managers to have a far-reaching strategic vision - they should not be limited to short-term interests, but should focus on long-term development. By implementing forward-looking strategic planning and layout, companies can seize opportunities in a complex and changing market. This is essentially a "bigger pie" mentality, emphasizing the balance of short-, medium- and long-term strategies among multiple dimensions such as the environment, social responsibility and corporate governance, so as to build future-oriented core competitiveness and sustainable development capabilities.

Yao Weizhou took India's water resource management practices as an example to show how to avoid potential higher costs in the future through forward-looking investments. He believes that when implementing ESG strategies, companies need to consider their economic feasibility and achieve a balance between economic and social responsibility through technological and management innovation.

"ESG actually represents that a person has core competitiveness, can stay healthy, and can last long." Stone Wang explained the importance of ESG from the perspective of company operations, and believed that ESG provides an important indicator to measure the profitability and health of a company.

Roundtable Session

As for how to build an effective organizational system when implementing ESG strategies, several guests also gave their suggestions:

Stone Wang believes that ESG strategy should be closely integrated with the company's overall business strategy to avoid becoming an isolated or contradictory part. This requires starting from the top-level design to ensure that ESG goals are consistent with the company's long-term vision and goals.

"When setting ESG goals, companies must first clarify their core purpose," Yao Weizhou said. These goals will directly affect the company's strategic planning and organizational structure. "We need to understand whether it is to increase consumers' awareness of sustainable development, enhance the efficiency of the company's operations, or optimize the management system."

Liu Xungong of Dongpeng Holdings focuses on top-level design, emphasizing that enterprises should clearly define the ESG strategic direction from the top management, establish internal unified governance goals and paths, and penetrate into the core links of various businesses to ensure that the organizational system operates efficiently around the established goals. At the same time, by clarifying the priority of goals and accurately identifying key issues, it is ensured that ESG is not only integrated into daily life, but also becomes a valuable opportunity to drive the long-term development and continuous innovation of enterprises.