This Thursday we continued our Sustainability Speech Series at Shanghai University’s College of International Business and Economics. Focusing on “Communicating Sustainability in China”, we invited two industry experts to the talk: Brian Liu, Senior Sustainability Manager of Walmart Global Sourcing, and Helen Zhu, Senior Corporate Communications Manager of Unilever China. Shanghai University’s Pro…
In continuation of our consumer waste series, we examine the challenges faced in the area of plastic waste production and management. China has a big history with plastic. Throughout its rise to economic prominence, China has manufactured and exported a huge amount of plastic products to eventually become the world’s largest plastic producer in 2013. More recently, China's domestic consumption…
On November 30th the UN will kick off the 21st Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) in Paris. The goal of the summit is for 196 countries to meet and sign a new climate change agreement that will limit temperature rises to less than 2℃ above pre-industrial levels over the century. It is considered by many to be the “last chance”…
With so much going on in the realm of sustainability, leadership, and innovation, and only a limited amount of bandwidth for professionals in this space, we have created this weekly post to highlight articles that we feel are (1) important, (2) relevant, and (3) interesting in the areas of business sustainability. If you have an article that you feel needs to be mentioned, please do so in the c…
Over the last month, we brought in eight industry experts to five leading Chinese universities across Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, where they shared their experiences and had discussions with over 160 students on a variety of sustainability-related topics. At East China Normal University thirty Bachelor, Master and Ph.D. students majoring in environmental engineering joined a discussion with s…
The impact from the sheer level of food waste in China is felt economically, environmentally, and politically: Economically, because farmers and consumers in effect pay for the waste as middlemen, processors, brands, and retailers are able to protect their margins more effectively. Environmentally, as, for every unit of food wasted, China’s precious water resources are wasted while at the…
The importance of design to sustainable products cannot be understated. It is the front end of development and the point at which environmental harm can be best mitigated. The achievement of good design involves challenging designers to think "outside the box," communicate the vision and to provide them with an in-depth understanding of the product's lifecycle, from production to end of life recov…
With so much going on in the realm of sustainability, leadership, and innovation, and only a limited amount of bandwidth for professionals in this space, we have created this weekly post to highlight articles that we feel are (1) important, (2) relevant, and (3) interesting in the areas of business sustainability. If you have an article that you feel needs to be mentioned, please do so in the c…
This Thursday, we hosted another talk on “Ethics versus Business Goals” at Donghua University as we continued with the Sustainability Speech Series. Two speakers were invited to give a presentation: Richard Brubaker, Founder of Collective Responsibility and an Adjunct Professor of Sustainability at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS); and Amy Sommers, Chief Representative of…
In November, Bloomberg New Energy Finance held its first APAC Summit on the future of energy, covering three main themes: trade, technology, and the transition to a lower-carbon energy system. It was attended by industry, finance and policy thought-leaders, with Collective Responsibility having the opportunity to participate. Here are some of the insights from the first day: China’s new normal:…
In this post, we continue our insight into the areas of the consumer waste framework in China. Last week we addressed the packaging industry and here we focus on the developing e-waste stream. By 2020, about 60% of the population in China will live in cities, with 300 million additional residents expected to move into China’s urban centers by 2030. With this population shift comes a dramatic c…
With the recent news that China’s domestic coal consumption was understated by up to 17%, a renewed debate has begun about China’s data quality and ability to keep its commitments to reduce CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHGs). A debate that is only intensified by the fact that China has been trying to proactively position itself as a leader at the World Climate Summit in Paris. For us though,…
With so much going on in the realm of sustainability, leadership, and innovation, and only a limited amount of bandwidth for professionals in this space, we have created this weekly post to highlight articles that we feel are (1) important, (2) relevant, and (3) interesting in the areas of business sustainability. If you have an article that you feel needs to be mentioned, please do so in t…
On Monday, we addressed the rise of China’s consumer waste industry. One stream outlined was packaging, an area of waste that is facing challenges along its supply chain. Here we delve deeper into the topic outlining the challenges and opportunities. Synonymous with consumer goods, packaging represents a particular waste stream that, given greater affluence and purchasing power, will grow. Pack…
In the 20 years since the "spear in the chest" moment that catalyzed Ray Anderson to move Interface from a company that complies to one that contributes, Interface has become known for their progress in moving their business from "take-make waste" to "zero footprint". It was a process that required vision, but more importantly it required Ray Anderson to engage others on that vision. In our int…
