Does Corporate Social Responsibility Give A License to Do Bad? | AskTheCollective 024

In this episode I answer a question about whether or not I think corporate social responsibility (CSR) gives companies license to do bad. It is a question with roots in the recent Freakonomics Podcast Does Doing Good Give You License to Be Bad?  () and the rebuttal by Chris Jarvis on the Engage for Good Podcast Does Doing Good with CSR Really Give Companies, Employees License to be Bad? As…

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Chinese Healthcare Trends: Rising Hospital Privatization

A significant trend in the current and future trajectory of Chinese healthcare is the increasing privatization of medical hospitals and clinics. This development is driven by both consumer desires for a more patient-centered experience and government initiatives that aim to distribute the burden of care from public hospitals. Despite the rapid expansion of private options, several barriers prevent…

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Sustainability Ambassador Appreciation Reception

Yesterday, we were excited to host our second Shanghai Sustainable Ambassador Appreciation Reception. An event to celebrate the work of sustainability professionals and business leaders who are looking to drive sustainability through their business, participants had a chance to network and share ideas over relaxed drinks and delicious hors-d’œuvres. The guests were a group of passionate and…

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Hacking Chemical Safety of Consumer Products!

The unprecedented speed at which science and technology are advancing has resulted on the development of numerous household chemicals that have slowly become indispensable to people. On the long term, the unsafe use, storage, and disposal of these chemicals may pose a threat to human and animal health. In fact, places like China have seen a rising number of hospitalizations of thousands of chil…

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China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation Hackathon

On 9-10 June, 2018, the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF) and eight of its multinational member corporations (Ashland, BASF, Covestro, Exxon Mobil, Huntsman, Invista, Lanxess, and Solvay) came together to launch the “Together for a Sustainable Community” (TFSC) hackathon in Shanghai. Every team focused on different target markets and combined their online and offline rese…

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Chinese Healthcare: Challenges & Opportunities

With big corporations including Tencent and Alibaba already investing heavily in the healthcare industry, there is a lot of speculation as to what the future of healthcare will look like, and also how corporations, startup companies, investors, physicians, and hospitals will collaborate in this space. Some Context China has undergone concerted development over the last two decades to improve hea…

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Why a Western Model of Recycling Won’t Work for China

China’s recent waste import ban has led to increased conversations globally on the topic of waste management. In China, one conversation that comes up in particular, among the general public and Chinese government alike, is the need to have a better system of household waste categorization for the millions of residents that live in Shanghai. The call is for a sorting system that is more aligned to…

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Shanghai Food Packaging Guidelines Announced

Last week, as part of a continued process to address the growing waste problem that China’s urban waste systems are facing, the Shanghai government announced a new food packaging guidelines focused on reducing food packaging waste. A problem that has grown with changes in urban lifestyles, which are often convenience focused, the soaring food delivery industry brings huge amounts of plastic pac…

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China to Expand Waste Import Ban

While many western cities and firms are scrambling to find solutions and workarounds for the mountains of waste plastic, unsorted paper, textile, and slag that can no longer be sent to China, the Chinese government just doubled down on January's waste ban with an announcement that over the next 18 months there will be an additional three stages to the existing ban. It is an announcement that ha…

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China Waste Import Ban: Boon or Bane?

Following the policy changes around informal vs. formal waste management systems, and the recent ban on foreign waste imports, we partnered with Green Initiatives to discuss these topics at the Green Drinks Forum: China's Waste Import Ban – Boon or Bane? At the event, Richard Brubaker (Founder of CR) provided an overview of the recent research and client work we have done with the various waste…

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China’s Electric Vehicle Boom Brings a Wave of Battery Waste

The amount of retired EV (electric vehicle) batteries will grow at an unprecedented rate in China. Recycling them will bring twofold benefits – reducing the consumption of raw materials for producing new batteries and minimizing potential environmental and health hazards caused by the mismanagement of battery waste. – Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (中国工业和信息化部专家) With hundred…

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Interview: Inside the Inclusion Factory

Be it a physical or intellectual challenge, China today is home to more than 80 million individuals living with a disability, many of whom do not have the right to work and have a job. The exclusion of such a large number of people from traditional work is a challenge that the government has already taken up through the development of a quota system and tax breaks for employers who hire more inclu…

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Event Report: Building a Socially Minded Business

With more than 85,000,000 people living with some form of a disability in China, only 9,000,000 of these individuals are “working.” Therefore, we decided to focus this month’s evening forum on the opportunities to build a socially minded business to create solutions to problems related to the challenges and stigmas that this segment of the population faces. Believing in the power of entrepreneu…

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She-economy & Sustainability in China

Although International Women’s Day 2018 (Mar 8) has already passed, we believe it’s never too late to celebrate women’s achievements and examine the push forward of gender equality in the context of China’s sustainable development. With the theme for 2018’s International Women’s Day being #PressForProgress, we wondered if #IWS has lost its meaning in China as there seems to still exist such a low…

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China’s Waste Ban and its Implications for the International Community

Background on the Issue As China took the lead in manufacturing, the reliance on raw materials opened the door to a new business: the waste trade. For many years, the system made sense; China exported inexpensive consumer goods to places like Europe, USA, and Japan. Shipping containers from these nations made their way back into China filled with recyclables. Chinese manufacturers could turn t…

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