Gathering power for the sustainability of automotive industry

 
On June 12, The 2nd China Automotive Industry CSR Development Forum and the Releasing Ceremony of China Automotive Industry Social Responsibility Development Report 2018-2019 hosted by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), co-hosted by CSR Centre at the Embassy of Sweden in Beijing and Drive Sustainability China (DS China), and organized by GoldenBee (Beijing) Management Consulting Co., Ltd. were held in Beijing. More than 100 experts and representatives from CAAM, CSR Centre at the Embassy of Sweden in Beijing, CSR Europe, and relevant enterprises in the automotive industry participated in the Forum. Ye Shengji, Deputy Secretary General of CAAM, moderated the Forum.
 
Fu Bingfeng, Executive Vice Chairman and Secretary General of CAAM, Shen Ke, Deputy Secretary-General of China Society of Automotive Engineers (China-SAE), Zhao Yang, Vice Chairman of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Automotive Industry Committee (CCPIT-Auto), Lotta Liljelund, Counsellor and Head of CSR Centre at the Embassy of Sweden in Beijing, and Jan Noterdaeme, Co-founder and Senior Advisor of CSR Europe, gave the opening remarks. They pointed out that it is of great significance to accelerate the green development of the automotive industry and promote the upgrading and high-quality development of the industry. They hoped that the Forum would play a good role as a platform for the sustainable development of the automotive industry.
   
At the Forum, the China Automotive Industry Social Responsibility Development Report 2018-2019 (hereinafter referred to as the Report) was released. This is the fourth CSR report of automotive industry issued by CAAM. The Report preparation has received strong support from 47 key and model enterprises and industrial organizations in the automotive industry.
 
The Report describes the basic situation of CSR practices in automotive industry from the aspects of economic contribution, responsibility governance, scientific and technological innovation, product service, green development, talent cultivation, win-win partnership, and community contribution. It shows the characteristics of CSR development in China and summarizes the social responsibility practices in automotive industry, providing a reference for more industry-related enterprises to fulfill CSR and promote the high-quality, sustainable and healthy development of the automotive industry.
   
In general, the CSR in the automotive industry has the following characteristics: the level of responsibility governance has been significantly improved, but there is still room for improvement; the CSR practices have been developed in depth, and scientific and technological innovation, products and services, and environmental management have become the highlights of responsibility fulfillment; greater efforts have been devoted to supply chain management, but the capability building in developing green supply chains still needs to be strengthened; the community contribution facilitates a better life, but it still needs to strengthen the combination with corporate professional advantages.
 
Focusing on the important responsibility issues of the automotive industry, representatives from Beijing Automotive Group Co., Ltd. (BAIC Group), Volvo Car Asia Pacific, BMW Brilliance shared their responsibility fulfillment practices based on their actual situations.
   
In order to further promote the sustainable development of the automotive supply chain, participants, centering on the theme of “sustainability and management of supply chain in automotive industry”, also shared their views and suggestions on how to achieve the comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development of the industry and society by starting from the supply chain.
 
Dai Yibo, Vice President of GoldenBee (Beijing) Management Consulting Co., Ltd., moderated the panel discussion. Jana Nykiel, Head of Purchasing Process, Academy & RSO at Volkswagen Group China, and Wang Xiaodong, Director of Information Office of CITIC Dicastal Co., Ltd. (CITIC Dicastal) shared their corporate understanding and practices of supply chain management. Jan Noterdaeme, Co-founder and Senior Advisor of CSR Europe, from a broader perspective, introduced the vision and objectives of Drive Sustainability (DS). Developed in 2013, DS is an Automotive Partnership between BMW Group, Daimler AG, Ford, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Scania CV AB, Toyota Motor Europe, Volkswagen Group, Volvo Cars and Volvo Group, aiming to promoting the sustainability of automotive supply chain. Jan also pointed out the need to develop strategies and have clear directions to realize the objectives.
   
Ms. Jana Nykiel, Head of Purchasing Process, Academy & RSO at Volkswagen Group China, stressed the importance of supplier compliance and sustainability rating in the supply chain management. She introduced that Volkswagen Group China has strengthened the supplier management by working together with suppliers to rectify the problems discovered through site audits and self-assessment questionnaires, worked on projects related to sustainability, carried out supplier sustainability rating and integrated compliance into the rating. From July of this year, Volkswagen Group China will only nominate those suppliers that are in line with the requirement of sustainable development. Through these actions, Volkswagen Group China hopes to enhance the requirements and standards for whole supply chain to achieve higher level of sustainability. In addition, Jana mentioned that Volkswagen Group had set a goal to become a zero-carbon emission car manufacturers by 2050, and she hoped that the upstream and downstream enterprises in the automotive supply chain could work together to realize the goals in the future.
 
Mr. Wang Xiaodong, Director of Information Office of CITIC Dicastal, said that as the largest supplier for aluminum wheel and chassis components in the world, CITIC Dicastal had been practicing sustainable development and the green development since its establishment. Mr. Wang also pointed out the importance of cooperation among wheel, tire and automotive industries in working together to set global standards to standardize some key indicators or parameter involved in the wheel manufacturing. In this way, issues related to automotive load and safety could be better dealt with, and more contribution would be made to sustainable and green development of automotive industry.
 
Mr. Jan Noterdaeme, Co-founder and Senior Advisor of CSR Europe, introduced the DS and European enterprises’ practices in promoting supply chain management. DS has effectively pushed forward the sustainability of automotive supply chain through activities including developing compliance and risk assessment tools such as self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ), etc. carrying out supplier training that focuses on business ethics, environment and health & safety issues, organizing cross-sectors exchange meetings to share best practices and experience on promoting industrial sustainable development. Up till now, over 25,000 supplier enterprises have filled in SAQ, and more than 2,000 supplier enterprises from over 100 countries and regions have participated in supplier trainings. The establishment of DS China not only strengthens the cooperation between Europe and China, but also promotes the sustainability of automotive industry in the world.
 
Jan also pointed out that DS was upgrading its vision and making 2030 strategy to integrate sustainability not only into supply chain, but also into the whole value chain. Broad communication related to issues such as raw materials, healthy work place, employee welfare, aging population, climate change, resource conservation, circular economy, etc. will be carried out in 2020.
 
Jan expected to have further cooperation between Europe and China. He hoped that more dialogues and exchanges including inter-governmental dialogue, etc. and cross-sectors cooperation can be carried out to strengthen the partnership and promote the sustainability and CSR development of the automotive industry.
   
In conclusion, Ye Shengji, Deputy Secretary General of CAAM, said that issuing CSR report is an important way to strengthen the communication among enterprises and government, society, customers and other stakeholders, and to make all sectors of society be more aware of enterprises. It is also an important window for enterprises to sort out their performance practices and devote more enthusiasm to the cause of sustainable development. Confronted with the new development situation, the enterprises in automotive industry need to make joint efforts to shoulder the new responsibilities entrusted by the new era, to pool the power for sustainable development of the automotive industry, and to promote the development of the automotive industry towards a safer, more wonderful and more people-oriented direction, thus making greater contribution to building China into an auto power.