2Sustain

Forming a partnership that illustrates the current trend towards non-profit/for-profit sustainability alliances, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has teamed up with The Coca-Cola Company to improve the water quality of the Yangtze River in China.

In many ways, the Yangtze has taken the brunt of China’s colossal economic growth, and even though the river provides China with 35 percent of its fresh water, it now ranks number one on WWF’s list of the ten most-threatened rivers in the world. For Coca-Cola, which operates 39 bottling plants in China, the partnership with WWF represents an opportunity to strengthen its commitment to water stewardship while mitigating its water risks.

A recent post at Knowledge@Wharton explains how non-profit/for-profit partnerships such as this one can be mutually beneficial: (more…)

Many companies today are focusing on improving energy efficiencies in their supply chains as a way to mitigate risks, lower costs, improve compliance and meet new expectations from a variety of corporate stakeholders.

But, improving energy efficiencies in the supply chain is challenging –and if your suppliers are located in China, that “challenging” task can sometimes seem nearly impossible.

China, which emits more greenhouse gasses than any other country, is notorious for factories with poor energy and environmental performance. In fact, researchers now estimate that many Chinese factories use about 10 times more energy than their counterparts in Japan. And, remedies to improve factory energy-efficiencies don’t come easy there. In China, poor factory performance there is tied into challenges related to the country’s regulatory structure, the professional energy-service-provider industry, and lack of information about opportunities and standards for measuring emissions.

Is there anything you can do to help your suppliers begin moving in the right direction? (more…)

Back in 2005, GlobeScan found that the vast majority (more than 80 percent) of Chinese consumers felt that companies communicated ‘honestly and truthfully’ about their social and environmental performance.

Five years later, opinions have changed.

In its 2010 global tracking research on public views of corporate social responsibility, GlobeScan found that these days, less than half (40 percent) of Chinese consumers believe that companies are being truthful about their CSR performance. (more…)

Among 24, 071 survey participants across 23 countries, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) say climate change is a “very serious” problem, reports the BBC.

That’s the highest level of concern since GlobeScan began international tracking of this issue back in 1998.

However, the US and China –the world’s two largest CO2 emitters –are bucking this trend. Unfortunately, concern for climate change actually decreased among survey respondents from those countries.

The survey was conducted between June and October, 2009, and here are a few highlights that caught my eye: (more…)

Yesterday, the China Greentech Initiative (CGTI), with AmCham Shanghai and PricewaterhouseCoopers as its founding members, released its first report on the green technology market in China.

The analysis, titled “The China Greentech Report 2009,” reveals the tremendous untapped potential of China’s greentech markets, which researcher estimate could be up to $1 trillion annually, roughly comparable to 15% of China’s forecasted GDP in 2013.

The 400-page report examines 125 greentech solutions, both existing and emerging, across seven sectors and provides a view of each solution’s potential environmental impact and commercialization opportunity. It also discusses, in detail, the significant barriers that exist.

(more…)