“Telling China’s stories and making China’s voice heard to present a true, multi-dimensional and panoramic China is a crucial task for strengthening the country’s capacity of international communication.” As a national exhibition open to the rest of the world, China International Import Expo(CIIE) is a great step of China to open to the wider world. It is also an important platform for telling China’s stories and making China’s voice heard. As an common issue concerned by the whole world, sustainable development complies with the interests of all countries and is the best point for cooperation. In recent years, the importance of sustainable development and CSR has been increasingly underlined in and become a main feature of the CIIE.
On November 4, during the opening ceremony of the Fifth CIIE, an event “Night of Sustainable Development and Launch Ceremony of China’s CSR Story Collection” was held. The event was co-hosted by the Committee of Social Responsibility of China Electronic Standardization Association (CESA- CSR), China Sustainability Tribune, Beijing Rongzhi Corporate Social Responsibility Institute, and GoldenBee Thinktank and supported by Dell Technologies. The event, taking the Fifth CIIE as an opportunity, provided a platform to promote the exchange and cooperation between governments and enterprises, companies and friends who engage in sustainable development and CSR.
Collecting good CSR stories—setting sail
Companies in China are attaching greater importance to CSR, and there are a large number of excellent companies in social responsibility fulfillment. The event is about the exchange of CSR practices, and also about the sharing of CSR stories and demonstration initiatives. China’s CSR Story Collection to be launched will play a crucial role in presenting to the world responsible Chinese enterprises and a responsible national image. Mr. He Hongliang, Deputy Secretary-General of CESA, delivered a welcoming address on behalf of Ms. Hu Yan, President of CESA and initiator of the Collection.
He pointed out in the address that “telling China’s stories” is a subject entrusted by the era where there are fabulous stories created in an ever-developing and ever-changing China every day. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China’s companies have made great progress in fulfilling social responsibilities and advancing sustainable development. Over the past decade, an increasing number of entrepreneurs have begun to take their social responsibilities and more companies have integrated social responsibility into their own development. As a result, there appear a body of distinctive and influential CSR cases and stories with highlights. These stories, worth being discovered, communicated and recorded, can specify the image and embody the new era. He hoped that the participants of the event would exchange and share stories, to further develop their common grounds, create diverse CSR stories, and present the image of a responsible China. Later, Mr. Han Bin, Deputy Director of the Employers Work Department of China Enterprise Confederation, Mr. He Hongliang, Deputy Secretary-General of CESA; Mr.Yu Zhihong, President and Editor-in-Chief of China Sustainability Tribune; Mr. Wang Xiaoguang, President of Beijing Rongzhi Corporate Social Responsibility Institute; and Ms. Lin Bo, Vice President of GoldenBee Consulting and Deputy Secretary-General of CESA-CSR jointly launched the “China’s CSR Story Collection.”
Taking concrete CSR actions—riding the wind and breaking the waves
As the launch ceremony started, representatives from central SOEs, private companies, and foreign companies shared their exploration in the CSR field.
One of their efforts was to allow all beings to develop in a most natural way. Mr. Yan Jingcheng, the representative of Lishui Power Supply Company and Qingyuan County Power Supply Company, both of subsidiaries of State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power Co., Ltd., told how the network of biodiversity protection improved the ecological system quality in Baishanzu at three levels, and how the network promoted the stable and orderly local development from economic, environmental and social perspectives: first, building ecological avoidance power grids. When building power lines, they paid special attention to preventing soil erosion and reducing vegetation damage; second, presenting the distribution network of diverse creatures. They have made multi-layered ecological distribution maps and designated typical protected area scenarios; third, building an alliance for mutual assistance. They have built a linkage mechanism with enterprises sharing common grounds with them and created a mutual-assistance partnership system and a data system.
The Internet can be leveraged to boost rural vitalization. Mr. Liang Yu, a specialist of Alibaba stationed in Qingjian County, told a story about the exploration of rural vitalization in less developed counties based on his experience. Taking Qingjian dates and local aardvarks as an example, he related how to promote industrial development in accordance with local conditions and by using Alibaba resources. He also illustrated the underlying principle of promoting rural vitalization via a prosperous industry. Besides, he took AI Bean Project for example, introducing how the AI project changed the youths in Qingjian from users to participants of digital technologies, and how the integration between technologies and talents laid a solid foundation for the leapfrog development in less developed regions.
The shining LED lights embodied the carbon neutrality story of the lighting enterprise Signify. Ms. Xie Qing, Director of Government Affairs of Signify China, shared a story named “Signify brightens life and brings a better world by 2025”. Based on Signify’s “low-carbon lighting transition” project, she focused on five major areas including urban-rural construction, clean energy, circular economy, green travel, and green agriculture. Via providing energy-efficient lighting products, systems and services, the company has enabled upstream and downstream in the whole industrial chain to realize low-carbon transition. She also presented another interesting Philip sustainable LED plant lighting, “light formulation”. She mentioned how to offer proper lighting products and control systems based on the plant requirements of different crops, to boost the development of vertical farming and promote the quantity and quality of produce while saving more energy and emitting less carbon.
How would energy saving and carbon reduction interact with rural vitalization? Mr. Chen Jiangning, Chief Information Officer of Baowu Carbon Materials&Technology Co., LTD., Mentor for the United Nations Global Compact Young SDG Innovator Programme, and Member of National Committee of Integration of Informatization and Industrialization Management Standardization and Mr. Xia Wei, Deputy County Mayor of Ning’er Hani and Yi Autonomous County under Pu’er City in Yunnan Province, Vice Director of Organization Department of Party Committee and Human Resources Department of Baowu Carbon Materials&Technology Co., LTD. together presented a story of how industrial intelligence enabled them to cultivate responsible coffee. Based on the resource advantages in Ning’er County, Baowu Carbon Materials&Technology Co., LTD., a subsidiary of China Baowu Steel Group Corporation took the lead in creating a local coffee brand “Ningxiaodou”. The company integrated carbon neutrality concept and its realization pathway into the product to create “zero-carbon coffee”. Besides, at the Global Forum of the United Nations Global Compact, the company shared to the world an innovation story based on their experience.
Building the platform —little drops of water makes a vast ocean
After the launch of China’s CSR Story Collection and the presentation of relevant stories, Mr. Yu Zhihong, President and Editor-in-Chief of China Sustainability Tribune shared the origin, background and purpose of the CSR story collection.
First, he extended his thanks to the Collection’s initiator Ms. Hu Yan, President of CESA and former Director-General of Technology Department of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. He pointed out that being able to tell stories is the underlying feature that distinguishes human beings from other creatures. Good stories should show audience facts, images and emotions, identifying their own position and entry point while presenting grand narratives.
The organizing committee of the Collection wishes to gather CSR stories, enabling others to learn from these stories. To be specific, the organizing committee plans to select good CSR stories and form a collection, in which both Chinese and English versions of the stories can be read. Besides, illustrations can be found in the collection to present examples and cases via facts, images, emotions and truths. Meanwhile, the organizing committee will also build a distribution center to produce 100-second short videos for each story, to promote the spreading of CSR stories through self-owned media and external media.
After the launch, China’s CSR Story Collection will enter stages, including story collection, story selection and collection compilation. The book is expected to be published during the Sixth CIIE next year.
Source: China Sustainability Tribune Website
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