As a sign of our appreciation for the work that the community of Sustainability Ambassadors and Innovators has been engaged over the last years, we were excited to host our first 2021 Sustainable Ambassador & Innovator Drinks in Shanghai last week.. Something we did regularly prior to COVID, the gathering has a single goal: bring together the community of sustainability professionals, entrepr…
Make-A-Wish Foundation Shanghai is a locally registered NGO that is committed to grant wishes for children and youth (age from 3 to 18) with life-threatening illness across China. With limited number of full-time staff, and the focus on serving minor beneficiaries, this 3-years old organization established a strong, and passionate volunteer base to support its causes. To date, Make-A-Wish Found…
While the process of developing, and executing CSR strategy is often focused on identifying the right partners, ensuring employee engagement, and measuring impact, through this post we would like to discuss the importance of engaging your legal, finance, and tax teams as a critical part of this process. Involving legal, finance, and tax teams in the process may be seen as time consuming or even…
As the work of NGOs in China has developed over the last 15 years, especially in the years following the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, the role of social media platforms critical to support public engagement in charitable activities. Like many areas of the wider economy where digital platforms disrupted traditional forms of engagement, while there were many upsides to the transitions, there were al…
Established by four fresh university graduates in Guangzhou, Shining Star was established in 2017 to help children and teenagers in gaining confidence and staying positive. An extension of a project they were working on as university students, over the course of the last three years they have built a grant program that supported 654 underprivileged students to finish their high-school education…
Following up from our previous post, "Leading Corporate Responses During COVID-19 Outbreak", we will look more deeply at Alibaba’s global program to provide a deeper analysis of their program, donations to date, and provide a few takeaways for readers. As a global leader in e-commerce, and one of China’s most prominent brands, the Alibaba Group announced that it would support other countries i…
For Chinese factories, particularly small to medium sized operators, this has been a very difficult time. Many have struggled with the loss of orders, cash flow shortages, and being straddled with ongoing operation and inventory costs that have led to the government announcing a series of relief measures early on. While preventing and controlling the COVID-19 outbreak has been the priority,…
With COVID-19 already infected millions of people, many companies have stressed the need to come up with a clear plan that can help the most affected and guarantee supply chain integrity to ensure businesses have enough measures for bringing workers back. During this time, many firms have looked to identify ways that they can give back to affected communities. Which was made more difficult as t…
To accomplish the mission and goals that we have set for ourselves, for our clients, and for the community, we are constantly on the look out for people with the passion and tools to solve big environmental, economic, and social challenges, and this month we are specifically looking for: Analyst Consultant Project Assistant Content Development Specialist Research Intern Projec…
For 30 years, the West has believed that by separating our waste into colored bins they were creating circular economies that would allow us to live a life of fast consumption without worrying about the planetary impact. That as “recyclers”, we were doing our part. However, that fantasy began to unravel last year as a combination of China’s waste ban mixed with images of ocean plastics, brou…
How can we utilize the coffee grounds that we produced on a daily basis? How can we encourage vulnerable groups to be self-sufficient and reintegrate into the society? How can we help urbanite to reconnect to community and nature? Each of these questions is complicated and challenging in itself, however Xingeng Workshop, A local organization founded in 2006 with the mission of supporting sust…
On July 10th 2019, to get a closer look at how a circular economy might look like in manufacturing industry, we organized a tour to the Interface Factory in Taicang (China) to observe their closed-loop manufacturing process. UB Qiu, the sustainable Lead of North Asia from Interface gave a remarkable presentation about Interface’s journey of moving business beyond usual and later guided the tour…
For many firms who have invested significant time and resources into developing products where sustainable attributes are central to the offering, or have launched entirely new business units meant to deliver a sustainable solution, the market has proven difficult. Time and time again, consumers and stakeholders alike, will indicate a preference for supporting brands who are “more sustainable”,…
For many firms who have invested significant time and resources into developing products where sustainable attributes are central to the offering, or have launched entirely new business units meant to deliver a sustainable solution, the market has proven difficult. Time and time again, consumers and stakeholders alike, will indicate a preference for supporting brands who are “more sustainable”,…
To help our community understand Sustainable Consumerism in China, understand the tools and tactics required to build a successful brand, we have invited leading social entrepreneurs and consumer researchers to speak about their work to understand, and convert, China’s sustainable consumers. For many firms who have invested significant time and resources into building sustainability into their…
