#Becausewecare
Integrating social and environmental concerns in our firm's business operations and interactions with all of our stakeholders is a key concept which runs throughout our value chain. We implement effective resource management and energy efficiency practices, engage in charitable philanthropy activities and provide for the fair and ethical treatment of our employees in a healthy workplace. The 3 pillars of our company’s CSR activities can be summarized in three words: Education, Children and the Environment.
Environment
In keeping with the goals of the E.U. and China for reduced carbon emissions, as the E.U. aims to achieve peak carbonization by 2025 and carbon neutrality by 2050, while China aims for peak carbonization by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, our goal is to work as a prime example in reducing our own carbon footprint.
Our long-term environmental goal is to reduce our company’s carbon footprint to 0, while Our short-term environmental goal is to contribute through our day-to-day actions to reduce environmental problems such as air, water and soil pollution. We believe that we are on the course for our goal. We plant trees to offset our carbon emissions and we join the Action For Blue to support the cleanup of oceans and beaches, regularly use recyclable paper, utilize solar energy when possible as well as limiting waste used in our offices around the world.
Action For Blue
Another project that we are passionate about is how we can improve the cleaning of our seas. For this goal, we have been engaged in the program “Action For Blue”, which is committed to the objective of cleaning of our sea water and the reduction of pollution.
All of our offices have been involved in the cleaning of our beaches and supporting associations which fight the plastic pollution of our seas. As our seas and oceans are the largest ecosystem on Earth, and essential for all life, including humans, pollution of plastic and other forms of human exploitation have put them at risk.
Our seas are also vital in combatting carbon emissions, absorbing approximately a quarter of all the CO2 emitted into the atmosphere by human activities, such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation. For this purpose, every September, on the occasion of the International Coastal Cleanup Day, each member of our group volunteers to clean up the coasts near Shanghai and using all the collected plastic bottles, in cooperation with recycling brands, giving new life to the waste.
Flora
As the best moment to plant a tree was yesterday, with the second best being today, since the incorporation of our firm, and especially as we are a European driven firm, our aim has always been to reach carbon neutrality as soon as possible.
As a first step, we have been deducting a nominal amount from all of our firm’s employees’ salaries, of which the firm will double in order to pay for the planting of trees to neutralize the carbon impact generated by all our employees.
Additionally, as assessed annually by our HR Department, which calculates the carbon footprint of each employee of the firm in detail according to their daily activities (e.g. our business trips, flights, trains, postal services, car trips over the year), we have formulated strict measures that all employees of the firm should take to help them reduce their carbon footprint at work, with this impact on the environment shall also be compensated via the planting of trees.
We planted over 330 trees in Inner Mongolia to cover the emission of carbon footprint our employees (at Group level) in 2020 and 2021 alone, with the numbers growing year by year.
As we did not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we are merely borrowing it from the next generations to come, so we should do our best to protect it.
