The 14th International CSR Forum held in Beijing

As an advanced platform for global CSR, the Forum has set up several panels to focus on current hot topics, share the latest trends of new paths of poverty alleviation in the new era, supply chain transparency, child rights and gender socialization in advertising, natural capital, sustainable brand, etc.

The panel “Business and Nature – Finding New Solutions for Environmental Sustainability”, for the first time, focused on “natural capital” that has not fully been recognized and evaluated. GoldenBee, Natural Capital Coalition and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) jointly launched the “Business for Nature” in China.

Regarding the impact of advertisements that are ignored by enterprises on the gender socialization, the panel “Child Rights in Marketing – Promote Positive Gender Socialization through Effective Advertising” called on enterprises not only to pay attention to gender equality in advertising, but also to focus more on the positive impact of advertising on children’s gender recognition and future development.

As a professional, international platform for China and European countries to discuss the concept of CSR/sustainability and related practices, the Sino-European CSR Roundtable Forum has updated itself over the past decade. The 20th Sino-Europe CSR Roundtable Forum shared the innovative practices including the application of big data, blockchain, etc. for the transparency of sustainable supply chains.

The panel “Sustainable Brand – Developing New Competitive Advantage of Enterprises” shared best practices of the integration of sustainable development and brand building.

The panel “Targeted Poverty Alleviation - Innovative Practice in the Fight against Poverty” provided a new path for enterprises to better fulfill their social responsibilities and enhance their competitiveness by focusing on cross-border cooperation to support poverty alleviation.

On November 1, 2010, the ISO 26000:2010 – Guidance on social responsibility was officially released, bringing a new milestone in the development of social responsibility. For more than eight years, ISO 26000 has shown the important trend – transforming to national (regional) standards, becoming an important reference and linkage for other international standards, and integrating into management systems. However, the value of ISO 26000 still needs more long-term larger, more innovative efforts and promotion.

This panel invited social responsibility experts from the ISO 26000 Stakeholders Global Network, as well as from Japan and Sweden to share the results achieved since the release of the standard and provide a platform for further exploration of the values.

According to Mr. Hans Kröder, Vice Chair of the ISO 26000 Stakeholders Global Network, the organization will continue to promote ISO 26000 as the world’s leading social responsibility standards, becoming a comprehensive and practical approach for all public and private organizations, maintaining links with ISO and ISO member institutions, and expanding network members while giving full play to the value of stakeholder engagement.

According to Mr. Masao SEKI, Steering Committee Chairman of CBCC, ISO 26000 was widely accepted by Japanese enterprises after its release. The Keidanren’sCharter of Corporate Behavior was revised with reference to ISO 26000.

In Sweden, ISO 26000 was also widely recognized by Swedish companies after its release. Daniel Steinholz, Member of Sustainability Committee, Swedish Institute for Standards (SIS), said that Swedish practice has proven that it is feasible for companies to use ISO 26000 as a tool to assess their level of CSR fulfillment, and relevant certification mechanisms are being further refined.

Regarding the progress of the core issues of ISO 26000 in Southeast Asia, Suharman Noerman, Vice Chair of ISO 26000 Stakeholders Global Network, said that human rights complaints mechanisms, workplace health and safety, sustainable use of resources, fair competition, consumer complaint channels, and participation in community activities still faced great challenges. At the same time, he pointed out that green finance would be a general trend of future business development and an opportunity to achieve sustainable business development.

GoldenBee has always adhered to the philosophy of “responsibility competitiveness contributes to sustainable development”, leading the development of CSR in China in a more in-depth and broader way.

As an upgraded version of the “GoldenBee CSR 2020 Initiative”, the “GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative”, based on the key words of “common vision, responsible competition, targeted practice, cross-border cooperation and shared value”, calls on fulfilling social responsibilities at a higher, broader and deeper level, and contributes to China’s implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the ultimate realization of the UN SDGs.

At this forum, the new action of “GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative” was launched by new initiators including Sinochem International Corporation, Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co., Ltd. and Meituan. They also gave keynote speeches respectively titled “FINE 2030”, “Green Industrial Chain Promotes Biodiversity Conservation” and “Enjoying Your Pleasant Time with Food”. Meituan also released the Meituan Social Impact Report 2018.

 

So far, a total of 27 enterprises and 2 institutions have become co-initiators of the “GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative”. From the “GoldenBee CSR 2020 Initiative” to the “GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative”, the initiator enterprises promoting social responsibility and sustainable development has maintained a good continuity, and the number of initiator enterprises has grown steadily.

As a model of contributing to SDGs with “responsibility competitiveness”, the practice of GoldenBee that is carrying out or about to implement in China, will send out China’s voice of promoting global sustainability, and contribute to the global transition to a sustainable development.