Coming clean on the environment
- By Harvey Dzodin
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China.org.cn, October 8, 2011
Recently there have been major reported demonstrations in Haining against a polluting solar panel manufacturer which led authorities to a temporary shutdown of the plant, and in Dalian, where a polluting chemical facility was forced to move its operations.
Personally, I am sick of seeing frequent reports of industrial polluters greedily poisoning scarce land and water resources environment the length and breadth of China. But surely not as sick as the people, often poor and powerless, who have to live cheek-by-jowl with the day in and day out suffering and dying from diseases such as cancer, while others are born with mental and physical deformities.
Yet more often than not, it seems that pleas or protests from victims are met with inaction and hostility instead of their desired result.
The need for these protests certainly does not help build the harmonious society to which the government and Chinese citizens aspire. Certainly though, the central government is trying to correct the situation. The 12th five year plan is the first one to include climate change and other environmental concerns. It also adopts as the national law the pledges China made at the U.N. conference on climate change in Copenhagen in 2009.
So why have so many problems surfaced recently? Part of the answer is the "heaven is high and the emperor is far away" syndrome. Local officials often take the side of local businesses wanting to encourage economic growth at all costs, but sometimes for less clean and honest reasons.
Also, perhaps the pollution has been happening for years but only the locals had known, and their pleas for help had fallen on deaf ears. Now however, with social media such as Weibo, netizens across the country are alerted, and so are government officials at all levels. Consequently, inaction is no longer a viable option.
But this is not enough. We need some environmental heroes and role models.
Thanks to the World Economic Forum, we now have four shining examples of Chinese companies, named "Sustainability Champions," who are doing the right thing for us and for our environment. Sixteen companies were chosen from a global survey of 1,000. China has more innovators (25%) than any other nation.
These Sustainability Champions deserve our profound praise and support. Their examples should be studied and built upon far and wide because profit and social responsibility are not incompatible.
One company, the Broad Group, headquartered in Changsha, specializes in energy efficient non-electrical air conditioners. The company's chairman, Zhang Yue believes in preaching what he practices as the vice-chairman of the Sustainability and Climate Initiative of the UN's Environmental Programme.
Better known is the Hong Kong-based MTR Corporation, a business that has succeeded in balancing its own business objectives, stakeholder interests, community development, all the while sensitively managing its impact on the environment.
The third Chinese Sustainability Champion is Zhangzidao Fisheries in Dalian. The company uses a technology to increase long term sustainability and profitability per unit of cultivation rather than the traditional and zero-sum per species measure.
My favorite is Suntech, a 10-year-old company based in Wuxi that is the largest solar cell and panel manufacturer in the world. But this doesn't stop it from being environmentally-friendly and pro-social. What really appeals to me about Suntech is that it has established a creative competition for teenagers to develop new solar technologies and even helps the winner to patent his or her idea. Winners' schools are awarded solar energy equipment. The company has also set up a Low Carbon Museum which has attracted thousands of students from around the world to learn about the intimate relationship between energy and human civilization.
All these companies believe in win-win for everyone involved. This is in sharp contrast to polluters who just want to take the money and run, ignoring or even distaining the environmental consequences.
Amidst the mostly bad news concerning the environment in China these days, learning about these four exemplary Sustainability Champions cited by the WEF is like a breath of fresh air. Let's raise a glass of clear pure water, if we can find one, to them and hope that their example gives others the encouragement to become champions as well!
Harvey Dzodin currently is a Senior Advisor to Tsinghua University. He was Director and Vice President at ABC Television in New York from 1982 to 2004.
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
