Three-year progress of GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative

On December 13, the "2019 China Business Summit on Achieving SDGs" hosted by the Global Compact China Network, with the theme of "global goals, local business ", was held in Beijing.

At the summit, the China Sustainability Tribune and the UN Global Compact China Network jointly released the GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative Progress Report (2016-2018).
 
I. Pioneer companies join the GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative

In June 2016, the "GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative" (hereinafter referred to as the "initiative") was jointly launched by the China Sustainability Tribune and the Global Compact China Network.

The co-initiators adhere to the "common vision, responsible competitiveness, targeted practices, cross-border cooperation, and shared value" of the Initiative and strive to be the pioneer and model of Chinese enterprises to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
 

 
 

 Five key words of GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative
 

Among the five key words, "responsible competitiveness" is also advocated by GoldenBee.

"Responsible competitiveness" is the world view and methodology of sustainable development, which is highly consistent with the basic principle and practice path of the Guide for Business Action on the SDGs issued by the UN Global Compact. It advocates enterprises to combine their strategy, business practice and sustainable development goals, use SDGs to manage long-term risks and find new growth points. It is suggested to set up a specific goal to contribute SDGs and leverage their own professional and resource advantages to solve the problems and challenges of sustainable development, which helps achieve the SDGs while obtaining operating income.
 

 
 

"Responsible competitiveness" and SDGs

 
As of 2019, 28 enterprises and 1 organization have become the co-initiators of GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative. In 2018, their total operating revenue exceeded 10 trillion yuan, and 10 of them are Fortune Global 500 companies and their SDGs practice can have a wide impact.
 

 
 

Co-initiators of GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative

II. Progress of pioneer companies for their contribution to SDGs

1. The actions of co-initiators to promote social responsibility and sustainable development have a good continuity, and the number of co-initiators has grown steadily.

GoldenBee started to engage in CSR and sustainable development in 2005 and launched the GoldenBee 2020 Initiative in 2011, which was upgraded to GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative in 2016, maintaining a good continuity.

The initiators and co-initiators have jointly formulated the access and exit mechanisms for the initiative, and update and disclose the implementation progress of the initiative every year. Through CSR activities such as the GoldenBee CSR Tour, the vitality and sustainability of the initiative is maintained, motivating co-initiators to fulfill their commitments.
 

 
 

The development course of "GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative"

 
Changes in the number of co-initiators in the “GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative”

 
2. 28 co-initiators are committed to implementing 16 SDGs, including 46 of the 169 targets.

28 co-initiators are committed to implementing 16 SDGs, including 46 of 169 targets. Each co-initiator promises to implement one to eight goals. The most concerned goal is Goal 12-responsible consumption and production and Goal 13-climate action, both of which are concerned by 12 co-initiators. 
 

 

SDGs implemented by co-initiators
 

3. The action path of co-initiators in environmental protection is relatively full, the systematic action in social progress and economic prosperity needs to be improved, and the integration of cross-border resources is still insufficient.

From the perspective of the implementation path, co-initiators perform well on environmental protection on the whole. Many co-initiators have formulated environmental protection plans and targets, adopted green development measures, and continuously conducted assessments and made improvements. In terms of social progress and economic prosperity, they are lack of systematic goal setting, implementation and improvement process, with weak performance in statistical analysis and disclosure of performance information. The cross-border resource integration in partnership building needs to be improved.

Yili Group systematically carries out biodiversity conservation management. The company carries out comprehensive and systematic actions in accordance with the steps of understanding, measurement and evaluation, developing management plan, supporting biodiversity action, integrating into business decision-making, and sharing progress and regular report，etc. The implementation progress can be found on the Biodiversity Conservation Report issued by Yili Group every year.
 

 
 

4. The Goal 13 climate action is highly concerned. Enterprises attach great importance to identifying and managing climate change risks, and seize the opportunity of clean development to carry out energy conservation and emission reduction and provide eco-friendly products for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
 
The co-initiators earnestly adopt measures to save energy and reduce emission during production and operation, avoiding the impact of environmental violations on the stable business operation. To unleash the dividends of green development, the co-initiators integrate environmental protection into their development strategies and work hard to realize green-industry transformation by giving full play to their advantages in their core business. They produce low-carbon products, provide environmental protection-related services, and integrate environmental protection closely with all aspects of business operations. Companies whose businesses are closely related to life on land attach importance to launching biodiversity conservation activities along the value chain.

China Southern Power Grid, Sinopec, and CHINALCO, etc. take “addressing climate change” as an important measure to change the mode of economic growth and social consumption, and give full play to the environmental protection force of the whole value chain. They systematically take actions to produce low-carbon clean products, improve production efficiency, and advocate low-carbon joint action, so as to build an eco-friendly and resource-saving society, which will provide practical samples for more enterprises to better protect ecology and environment.

5. Targeted poverty alleviation is highly valued, which involves SDGs, such as no poverty, zero hunger, quality education, good health and well-being, gender equality, etc. All actions aim to improve the well-being of women, children, farmers, poor households and other groups.

According to their own business and industry characteristics, enterprises focus on carrying out business activities closely related to people's livelihood in a wider range of fields such as medical treatment, education, housing, etc.; they give full play to the advantages of technology and their business to innovate in and carry out various social projects, contributing to the welfare of women, children, farmers, poor households and other groups, and promoting social harmony and happiness; they develop and utilize clean energy to improve energy utilization efficiency, so that clean, efficient and economically applicable energy can benefit a wider range of people.

Adhering to the corporate mission of “For a Better Life”, BG Group integrates planning and design into the environment, industries, capital, and data. Starting from the comprehensive planning covering urban clean energy, water resources, ecological environment, planning and design, history and culture, integrated transportation, underground space, and smart cities, BG Group builds environment-friendly, resource-cycling future cities in a scientific manner, and improves the maintenance and intelligent management of municipal infrastructure, which enables citizens to enjoy safer and more economical public services in more livable cities.

6. The Goals of decent work and economic growth, responsible consumption and production, and industrial innovation and infrastructure are highly responsive due to their relation to the business of co-initiators.

Economy-related SDGs practices by the co-initiators are closely related to their own production and operations. They focus on reducing the carbon footprint of their products and improving product safety in a bid to provide consumers with more products and services that are green and safe. The co-initiators provide various types of vocational training to support the employment and entrepreneurship of women and people with disabilities. In addition, some measures focus on helping women and employees with disabilities. The co-initiators carry out innovation in technology, business, and management in line with their own business characteristics while providing society with reliable infrastructure in the fields of electricity, aviation, construction, and so forth, thus promoting economic and social development.

Co-initiators such as State Grid Corporation of China and UTC have taken innovative-driven development as the focus of business development and corporate transformation and upgrading. By building an innovation platform for industry-university-research collaboration, they can recruit and train innovative talents, strengthen technological innovation, management innovation, and business model innovation, which also inject continuous energy for improving product and service quality as well as ensuring safe and eco-friendly production, and innovatively drive sustainable development of themselves, the economy and society.
 

III. Direction of pioneer companies to contribute to the SDGs
 

While 28 pioneer companies make significant progress on implementing the GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative, they still face challenges in the system management, quantitative performance, and sustainability.

The implementation direction for the next step mainly includes:

1. Pay attention to the progress of SDGs implementation in China and deepen their understanding and benchmarking analysis of the SDGs, striving to be the pioneer of China's model in global sustainable development with solid actions.

2. Analyze the environmental and social risks, identify the opportunities for sustainable development, and explore the sustainable business model with "Responsible competitiveness" as the core by combining with their professional advantages.

3. Translate the commitment into the corporate development goals, strengthen the systematic management of SDGs, enhance transparency, and timely evaluate the progress of SDG implementation and make improvement.

4. Strengthen cross-border resource integration, drive partners, the government, social organizations and other stakeholders along the value chain to jointly perform their responsibilities, and form a joint force for sustainable development.

5. Enhance international exchanges and cooperation to absorb the sustainable development experience of advanced enterprises in the world, build a global partnership for sustainable development, and promote global synergy and progress in a wider range.

China Sustainability Tribune, Global Compact China Network and all co-initiators welcome more enterprises and organizations to join the GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative for better sustainable development management and practice and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals!

More information about GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative

Ms .Hou Chuqing    Tel：+8610-68711086-8003
Email：chuqing.hou@goldenbeechina.com

Ms. Xu Bo    Tel：+8610- 62160423- 822
Email：bo.xu@wtoguide.net