Sustainable Development, Reshaping Corporate Values - New Year's Message from the CEO of EFC in 2025
Once upon a time, companies' investment in health and safety, as well as environmental protection, was seen as weakening their competitiveness and increasing their burden, as there was no immediate financial benefit.
Once upon a time, after experiencing rapid development, the Chinese economy began to undergo complex changes in the global economic environment, coupled with sudden extreme events related to environmental protection, health and safety (EHS). "How to manage uncertainty, build resilience performance and sustainable development" has become a new theme faced by enterprises. Big health, epidemic infectious diseases, low-carbon and green, waste free factories, low-carbon factories, biodiversity, water resource management, digitalization, talent shaping and vocational education, etc., have become global topics.
「View compliance as an opportunity」
The Harvard Business Review discusses that the first step for companies to move towards sustainable development usually begins with legal requirements, and achieving compliance with environmental, health, and safety (EHS) regulations is not simple, especially for global and overseas Chinese companies. Each country has its own EHS regulations, rules, and industry norms. In terms of environmental compliance, the EU has taken a more aggressive approach by issuing a series of sustainable development directives and reporting disclosure laws for domestic and export EU companies.
Many companies may not have even started the most basic EHS regulatory compliance and annual self-assessment, thinking that meeting the minimum compliance requirements is enough, without realizing that it is wiser to comply with the strictest regulations and take comprehensive action. Because it complies with local regulations, it not only ensures sustainable production and operational development, but also meets customers' basic expectations for qualified suppliers, especially for export enterprises facing such requirements.
In fact, the management practices and experiences of top multinational corporations in complying with local national EHS regulations on a global scale can serve as our successful business cases. General Electric (GE) has been implementing a set of global EHS management standards since 1996, including internal management standards and compliance requirements with local EHS regulations, and requires all levels of management to strictly adhere to commitments to compliance and integrity issues. We also see that the first companies to actively respond to government regulations can turn what was originally seen as opposing regulation into case studies of best management practices, and establish their brand value and influence in the industry.
「Sustainable development, reshaping the value chain of enterprises」
Once a company fully understands the importance of compliance and keeps up with the dynamic management pace of compliance, it will gradually become proactive in addressing environmental protection, occupational safety, and other issues, and regard them as the core content of sustainable development for the company. While focusing on the importance of financial indicators for the company, it will also consider the Enterprise Sustainability Indicators (E.S.G) as a doubly important issue.
Currently, the issue of sustainable development has become a global consensus. The value reshaping of enterprises not only needs to consider good economic performance, but also the comprehensive impact of their production and operation on the environment (E) and society (S). In China, as safety management and dual carbon targets deepen into various industries, more and more companies are realizing that the issue of dual importance is not only a compliance issue, but also a value manifestation of their own competitiveness and brand influence.
The environment (E: three wastes), society (S: community, employee and supplier related occupational health and safety, labor issues, etc.), and corporate governance (G: ESG governance system, business code of conduct, etc.) are not only key indicators of a company's own sustainable operating ability, but also criteria for financial institutions to invest and measure the value of the company.
Promoting the sustainable development of enterprises, comprehensively reshaping their value proposition, and opening up new business models are not only the top projects of enterprises, but also the core issues of managing resilience performance and enhancing competitiveness.
