Last Saturday, Vincci Group and Collective Responsibility jointly held a training session in Chengdu for the upcoming real estate hackathon, where students design “The Educational Hub of Tomorrow”. Together with their mentors, six student teams from Sichuan University, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Southwest Jiaotong University, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu…
We are excited to announce our next hackathon, hosted by Target Corporation on June 2-3 in Shanghai, will bring student teams will work with executives from leading technology and design communities to create a mobile app that helps connect migrant workers parents and their left-behind children. Of the 277 million rural laborers who migrate hundreds of miles away from home to China’s cities in…
For our regular readers, you will know that we have been spending last several months looking deep into how waste is managed in China, with a specific focus on how recycled waste is collected, sorted, and processed in Shanghai. This is driven in part by the belief that Shanghai has, and will, serve as a model for city development in China going forward. It is a city that not only has experience…
In this episode, we answer questions about the point at which people will start to care about sustainability, and what are the lessons that Africa can take from China to tackle the environmental impact of international investments. As always, we hope you find these questions and answers useful, gain some new insights, and possibly help catalyze you to take your next step! If you enjoyed it,…
Welcome back this week's episode of #AskTheCollective, where we answered two questions. The first on the impact of the globalization and free trade on sustainability, and whether it has exacerbated the environmental, economic, and social challenges faced, and the second question focused on the progress that we have seen in China. As always, we hope you find these questions and answers useful, g…
As millions of China’s growing middle class have become new car owners, China’s private car market has propelled it into being one of the most attractive car markets in the world. For automakers, this has been a boom as ownership oversharing was the norm, but the challenges of car ownership in the form of traffic and air pollution have also grown. To tackle the problems, China has…
China's waste management system is feeling the heat. Over the past few months, scandals from illegal dumping to capacity reaches of major landfills have exposed the complexities of Shanghai’s waste stream – and the challenges that exist in controlling its management. These issues are not unique to Shanghai – they represent broader trends and issues of consumption growth in many of China’s ci…
Welcome back to another episode of #AskTheCollective! This week we answer a question about how to engage executive leadership on sustainability – a common challenge, not just for passionate Sustainability Ambassadors, but for many who seek to move, or leverage, business as a medium for change. As always, we hope you find these questions and answers useful, gain some new insights, and possibl…
This latest installment in our “Hope and Opportunity” article series discusses migrant worker trends with regards to children in rural China. When thousands of political and business leaders and experts gathered to discuss major economic, political, and social issues at China's recent Two Sessions, one of the most eye-catching and debatable topics raised was the current situation and futures of…
As a follow-up to our previous episode in #AskTheCollective, "How to Start Your Career in Sustainability or CSR", in 007 we help answer a deeper question about finding one's first job in the field, and then open a discussion about the future of jobs and what we should teach our kids to prepare them. It is a huge episode, and as always, we hope you find these questions and answers enjoyable and…
China's waste collection and management system has recently captured public attention. Much of that attention has focused on negative incidents – such as dumping scandals in Shanghai and Wuxi – or uncertainty about the future of waste treatment, with expected landfill closures in Shanghai for 2017. But how much do you really know about waste beyond the headlines? Collective's work on waste i…
“Beijing’s pollution is bad, but they'll clean their air just like London did …” In 1952, the five-day Great Smog of London killed more than 12,000 people and made over 150,000 people ill. It was an environmental disaster that many people today consider both a cautionary tale and an instructive example of how to address and overcome an air crisis for areas in similar situations – in part because…
In Episode 006 of #AskTheCollective, we answer a question that is asked on a regular basis: How do you get a job in sustainability or CSR? As always, we hope you find these questions and answers useful, possibly gain some new insights, and feel compelled or inspired to ask questions of your own! Enjoy Episode 006 below, check out the full playlist here, and stay tuned for Episode 007 coming…
We are really excited to announce our next hackathon, held on May 5th and 6th in Chengdu, where student teams will work with real estate and education executives to create an Education Hub business plan. For many Chinese families, it is believed that a good education is the best path for social mobility. It is closely related to one’s well-being, through higher income and social status, both of…
SUSTAINABILITY: THEORY VS. REALITY When discussing sustainable business, ideas that make "big-picture" environmental sense on paper may or may not translate well into day-to-day practice. What may seem more efficient in the long-term is not always conducive to the main focus of business, the bottom line – particularly when talking about supply chain actors and retailers. This is why it's so…
