Diving Into JD's Sustainability Achievements & Commitments

Jul 15

JD.com is China’s largest online retailer and its biggest overall retailer, as well as the country’s biggest Internet company by revenue. JD.com sets the standard for online shopping through its commitment to quality, authenticity, and its vast product offering covering everything from fresh food and apparel to electronics and cosmetics. Its unrivaled nationwide fulfillment network covers 99% of China’s population, and provides standard same- and next-day delivery - a level of service and speed that is unmatched globally.

DIVING INTO

JD.com released its 2021 ESG Report this May, the group's second ESG report, in which the company specified its compliance management mechanism guided by the concept of “achieving success the right way,” and the principle of “compliance represents development”. Let's dive into the group's sustainability strategy and commitments!

Green Operation

Green Office

*JD.com’s new headquarters in Beijing ©JD Corporate*

JD.com is committed to building a green office space by continuously promoting energy conservation and resource recycling through its office practices. For instance, in 2021, all the traditional lighting lamps in public areas of Building No. 1 have been transformed into LED lamps, with a total of about 14,000 LED downlights replaced.

The group has rolled out paperless office initiatives in many business scenarios, such as electronic contracts, electronic file archiving, electronic invoicing, etc., which not only greatly reduces tree felling and carbon emissions, but also improves information management efficiency, and facilitates employees’ daily work at a lower operational cost. According to its press materials, JD.com is the first e-commerce company to go paperless, resulting in 1,820 tons of paper saved from invoices by issuing 2.8+ billion electronic invoices in last five years, 5,000+ tons of paper saved from electronic signatures being used as delivery confirmation process in 2017.

It is also noted that, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, JD.com has provided a remote working system for employees, which can save time and tangible costs occurring in employees’ commuting and business travel. At the same time, the group also promoted green travel and commuting among employees, by launching a strategic move with Didi and CaoCao online car-hailing platforms, aiming to reduce the carbon footprint of employees’ travel by carpooling.

Green and Low Carbon Data Centre

Adhering to advancements in technology and pioneering green initiatives, JD.com has created energy-saving, emission-reduced, and environment-friendly low-carbon data centers by innovating hardware technology, optimizing software capabilities, using clean energy, and reducing energy consumption intensity.

From planning, designing, construction, to O&M (operation and maintenance), JD Cloud’s new generation green data centers implement the low-carbon and energy-saving strategy in the whole product and operation life cycle.

Low Carbon Supply Chain

In June 2017, together with brand owners, manufacturers, logistics companies, packaging companies, and industry associations, JD Logistics launched the Green Stream Initiative, a joint green supply chain campaign that carries out various low-carbon and energy-saving practices in packaging, warehousing, transportation, aand recycling, with the goal of improving the utilization rate of supply chain resources and reducing carbon emissions.

Green Packaging

The Green Stream Initiative boosts packaging reduction by engaging the brand partners and empowering the systematic green transformation of the industry. By the end of 2021, JD Logistics had driven the whole industry to reduce the consumption of disposable packaging by nearly 10 billion pieces.

Besides, JD.com advocates the use of renewable green materials, develops delivery bags applying degradable materials to replace petroleum-based plastic bags, and is committed to promoting 100% renewable and replaceable packaging materials. For instance, 100,000 recyclable Green Boxes were used to deliver goods in 2017 alone, and 1 million+ reusable delivery bags that are safe and environmentally friendly have been used since 2014. It is estimated that by 2030, more than 80% of JD’s upstream brands will be motivated to develop environment-friendly packaging.

Green Warehousing

JD.com’s Asia No. 1 warehouse in Shanghai *©JD Corporate*

Sorting Robots at JD’s Fully Automated Warehouse in Shanghai ©JD Corporate

The Group actively promotes more intelligent industrial parks to achieve zero carbon emissions through “green infrastructure + carbon reduction technology innovation.” In fact, JD.com’s Xi’an “Asia No.1” Logistics Industrial Park has obtained the carbon neutrality certification issued by the Beijing Green Exchange and Centre Testing International (CTI), becoming the first “zero-carbon” logistics park in China. While in Shanghai, a photovoltaic power generation system that JD built and installed on the roof of its Shanghai Asia No.1 logistics park has been operational since June 2018, significantly reducing CO2 emissions.

Green Transportation

To make the company’s footprints on the road greener, JD Logistics has successively deployed new energy vehicles in more than 50 cities across the country to replace traditional fuel cargo vans. By the end of 2021, the number of new energy logistics vehicles reached 20,000, which can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 400,000 tons per year, equivalent to the annual carbon dioxide absorption by 20 million trees.

Sustainable Consumption

Consumer preferences for more sustainable lifestyles and consumption are leading to changes in market demand. In December 2017, a 1 billion RMB JD Logistics Green Fund was launched with the goal of driving innovation for environmental protection and promoting green consumption.

Sustainable Consumption Advocacy

JD has held more than 100 green promotional and education events, calling on hundreds of millions of consumers to participate in environmental protection and public welfare. Activities include Earth Hour, Azure Earth Sustainability Week, Green Packaging Design Competition, Green Packaging Forum, Waste Classification Awareness Campaign, and their latest “Green Impact Initiative”, starting from this year's 618 Grand Promotion.

The “Green Impact Initiative”program was officially launched in collaboration with global partners including P&G, JOMOO, L’Oréal, CHERY, PurCotton, Nestlé, Panasonic, Abbott, etc., and the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprise. By purchasing these labeled products, customers are able to collect green credits and redeem for green products, coupons, and peripheral products including digital collectibles through a newly established green account system integrated into JD’s app. Previously in 2022, JD.com also launched a carbon-reduction campaign in collaboration with P&G, Swisse, Blackmores, and Yili Group’s Satine organic milk to raise people’s awareness of the environment while shopping online.

Green Lifestyle Promotion

JD.com initiated recycling projects in several cities in China. As a result, 1+ million items of clothing and 400,000+ toys have been collected and reused or donated to people in need, reducing CO2 emissions by 2,400 tons. 10,000+ expired medications have been collected and safely disposed of by professional organizations to avoid environmental pollution, according to the group's Corporate Social Responsibility achievements.

Besides, JD.com's box recycling program is an ongoing service for JD’s customers, and customers can send cardboard boxes to couriers while exchanging JD’s “Jingdou”(京豆) loyalty points as a reward. Apart from box recycling, the group also launched a wide range of initiatives that contribute to a circular economy . For instance, JD.com launched book donations for rural primary schools campaign in 12 cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in 2020, and partnered with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to support Earth Hour, by implementing a clothing donation drive across 94 cities in China.

WHAT’S NEXT?

According to JD.com's latest ESG Report released in May 2022, we've learned that the group has set the goal to reduce carbon emissions by 50 percent by the year 2030, based on the levels of 2019. To do so, JD Logistics pledged to invest RMB 1 billion yuan ($150 million) in the next five-year plan of its multi-pronged sustainability efforts, known as the "Green Stream Initiative", to build a greener and more integrated supply chain that can offer a greater amount of low-carbon products and engage a wider range of merchants and customers together to practice responsible production and consumption. Besides, a climate-related performance evaluation system will be established among the group by 2024.

The group also made commitments to eco-packaging by using 100% environment-friendly and renewable materials by 2030, and by motivating more than 80% of upstream brand enterprises to develop eco-friendly packaging. By 2025, the group also aims to promote 50% suppliers of JD Logistics to participate in the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

In the coming two to three years, JD.com will continue to develop and deploy thousands of autonomous delivery vehicles, continuously improve customers’ experience and service efficiency, aiming to achieve 100% new energy for logistics vehicles by 2030.

GREENEXT'S TAKE

Contributing to the fulfillment of national dual carbon targets represents not only the responsibility of China's leading companies like JD.com, but also an opportunity for JD to achieve stable and continuous success in the future in China, as a leading supply chain-based technology and service provider. It's a great start for JD.com to make efforts in innovating green logistics, procurement, offices and more to lead a low-carbon operating enterprise, while at the same time, also creating a wide range of consumer campaigns to promote green consumption among the public. As China's leading supply chain based technology and service provider, we are looking forward to seeing JD.com innovate in transportation, storage, and packaging, among many others in the supply chain to make its logistics fulfillment green, and create a transparent and user-friendly incentive system to encourage, and make it easier for consumers to shop more consciously online.

Danie LIU