A New Standard of Care for Human Rights and the Environment
How to Better Your ESG Ratings Through Quality Information Disclosure
The term “Design Thinking” originated from a unique course offered by Stanford University’s School of Design (D School), which included a series of steps to help design- ers transform their ideas into practical solutions to solve problems more effectively.
German specialty chemicals company LANXESS launched a program in tandem with the China Sustainability Tribune (formerly China WTO Tribune).
The “Porsche Art Healing Project” is a creative artistic practice and public welfare program which relies on Porsche’s “Young Chinese Artists of the Year” (YAOY) platform, initiated by Porsche China, CC Foundation, and ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair.
Bosch Automotive launched a project to increase its energy efficiency with the goal of becoming carbon neutral.
To tackle this issue, Continental Tires launched a project to cut emissions from production processes. The first phase of the project was planned back in 2015.
From 3 August to 2 September 2020, Teufel had a 30-day challenge to encourage employees and their families to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle.
Trolli Guangzhou Confectionery has worked closely with its partner vendors to upgrade wastewater treatment processes and enhance the processing capacity by installing new, high-efficiency equipment.
In 2017, Bosch Suzhou partnered with Sunflower, an organization dedicated to helping children with autism. Bosch supports Sunflower by providing financial assistance, organizational skills, and training opportunities for the organization’s teachers.
Henkel promotes diversity and inclusion as a core aspect of its corporate culture. The company values its employees as its strongest asset.
Like many other companies, we have had to learn that the emissions we can influence through our development, purchasing and investment decisions in the upstream and downstream supply chain (Scope 3) account for more than 90 % of our total CO2eq output. Our initial calculations and estimates for 2019 indicate Scope 3 emissions of around 800,000 tonnes of CO2eq – compared with approx. 49,000 tonnes for Scope 1 and Scope 2. We have set ourselves the target of identifying these Scope 3 emissions more precisely and will work with our suppliers, customers and partners to consistently reduce them.
At present, more than 7,000 rare diseases have been identified in the world, 80% of which are genetic diseases and generally lack effective treatment. In China, there are nearly 20 million patients with rare diseases and more than 200 thousand new patients every year. WAGO recognized the need to care for these patients and connected with the Sunshine Counseling Center to start the “Porcelain Doll” help program. Since 2017, the program uses professional methods to provide psychological, educational, medical and health professional support and voluntary services for rare disease groups. The company created a new project at the end of 2019 and implemented in throughout 2020 including donating goods and office supplies and providing training to the Sunshine Counseling Center’s staff. WAGO plans to create a ward with classrooms and psychological assistance for the patience. They also plan to involve employee volunteers in summer camps and learning groups to further assist the Counseling Center.
In 2020, the global pandemic disrupted and changed what we define as “normal life”. Because of flight cancellations across the world, many people were separated from their families and unable to get back to their homes. With the high sense of responsibility, Volkswagen Automatic Transmission (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. (VWATJ) helped to organize six charter flights and provided proactive support and follow-up services. The com- pany’s charter flight project cooperated tightly with AHK and Volkswagen Group China, aimed at safely transferring all expatriates and their family to China in during the global epidemic. This project experienced a long preparation phase but launched its very first stage in July 2020. As a result, the company secured the safe arrival of all expatriates without any infected cases and ensured their comfortable stay during their whole quarantine. As COVID-19 is still not over and the overall situation is still challenging, VWATJ will continue to take further actions with other related interfaces, e.g., mask production. The company vows to try their best to protect the people they can influence and be proactive.
In the most critical times of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for negative pressure ambulances increased. In order to help with these demands, Vitesco Technologies Changchun received the emergency task of producing spare parts for ambulances. In addition, the company donated a negative pressure ambulance and monetarily donated RMB 500,000 to the Changchun Emergency Center via the Red Cross. On the second day of Chinese New Year, as soon as Vitesco received the customer order, the plant immediately reported to the local government of the need to start production as soon as possible. Within one week of continuous production, the company met the customer order for the parts and received a letter of thanks for fulfilling the request in a timely manner. For Vitesco Technologies, this is a significant and memorable achievement for their team.
At the beginning of 2020, the sudden COVID-19 pandemic disrupted normal life. To support cities that have been hit the hardest by the pan- demic, TÜV Rheinland, with more than 1,000 enthusiastic employees and the support of the China Youth Development Foundation, donated RMB 500,000 in total to the Wuhan University of Zhongnan Hospital. Funds were used for patients’ treatment and purchase reagents, protective equipment and other related materials needed for pandemic prevention. In addition, during the early stages of the pandemic, the company’s e-commerce team rapidly provided free inspection services and doc- ument qualification audits of protective equipment for Alibaba and Jindong ( JD). TÜV finished the first batch of application materials audit within 48-hours to help medical supply exporters successfully enter cus- toms on time. The company also held public live streams online to guide companies on how to deal with relevant risks. TÜV will continue to work closely with all parties involved to strictly control the quality of medical protective equipment and support pandemic prevention.
The pandemic has had a huge impact on society at large. By getting involved in the fight against COVID-19, Schaeffler aimed to offer immediate, direct sup- port to specific communities and individuals, but also contribute to well-being in the long-run. This was implemented by offering communities tools to pre- vent future outbreaks (e.g., washing basins), as well as empowering them to take action on their own (e.g., through educational courses). At the early stage of the pandemic, Schaeffler set up the “SUF-Schaeffler Special Fund” together with Shanghai United Foundation (SUF), to support the areas affected by the pandemic. The fund included RMB 6 million donated by Schaeffler and added RMB 360,000 donated by Schaeffler Greater China employees. The donations were allocated in three stages, based on the developing needs within the pan- demic. The fund has been used to provide anti-epidemic materials and daily supplies in the areas affected, as well as for epidemic prevention in schools and post-epidemic rehabilitation. “Handwashing”, the main educational proj- ect of the donation, is still under way and will cover more schools in the future. The special fund will also contribute to post-epidemic rehabilitation.
One catalyst can spark the growth of many to improve various elements of society and our world. Porsche China decided to be the catalysts for their China dealers with their project the “Porsche China Dealer CSR Fund”. This project was launched in 2018 to actively encourage Porsche China dealers and investment partners to widely participate in corporate social responsibility practices, while creating a long-term CSR platform that aggregates the strengths of stakehold- ers and philanthropists. With the enthusiasm of their dealers, the company helped fund projects that span different social issues which include education assistance, poverty alleviation, and environmental conservation. 2020 saw the launch of the project’s third round. Out of 18 projects from 16 dealers, five were selected and funded over RMB 2.1 million. These projects were started within 2020-2021. The committee has learned from the previously implemented projects and will continue to maintain the high quality, high standards and strict implementation of these projects.
Water is the most basic necessity for all life. In China, there are over 40 million students at 114,000 schools who do not have access to safe drinking water. To tackle this issue, Merck Holding initiated its “Clean Water Project” in 2018 since then ensured that schools in rural China have access to clean drinking water. Merck partnered with the non-profit organization, the One Foundation to select schools in dire need and implemented the program. Not only did Merck install purification systems at 102 rural schools, which gave over 40,000 students access to safe drinking water, the company also shared its expertise on water analysis and testing with the local government and partners. By the end of 2021, there will be 140 water purification systems installed. In the future, Merck will make sure that the schools’ water systems stay maintained and supply the schools with fresh filters. It will also expand its project to make sure that more schools, therefore more children, have access to clean and safe water.
The job of cleaning staff is often hard, and many stigmas are being hold around the profession. In this respect, Kaercher Trading (China) Co., Ltd. decided to show their appreciation to these workers. The company went to Suzhou, Shanghai, Taicang, and produced the documentary “Alone Hero in City” to pay tribute to workers who keep cities clean. Since 2015, Kaercher has been speaking up for cleaners and realized that although workers maintain the cleanliness of living environments day after day, their work often goes ignored. For the documentary, the company part- nered with the New Zealand Construction Workers Trade Organization (BSCNZ). In collaboration with 15 countries including China, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, words of warmth and encour- agement were sent to cleaning workers, commending them for their excellent work, and thanking them for their contribution with Kaercher. In the future, Kaercher will continue to promote various public actions related to cleaning and the workers who do so.
