Fangfang's Profile

Thanks Ting for bringing up the issue of GHG emissions in healthcare industry. I found lots of similarities between phamaceutical products and consumer products in terms of GHG reduction. The opportunities exist across supply chain, including how we source raw material, how we produce and package our products, how we transport and store them and finally how we sell them. And I think it’s a smart thing for companies to focus on GHG emission reductions on supply chain, because that will also become the biggest cost saving driver for the company and to optimize its current operations in order to improve bottomline

Thanks DK for bringing up the issue of Walmart. My takeaway is that what Walmart is doing now makes 100% sense, not just for sustainability, but also for cost optimization in its business model. But what I am not so sure is whether that will help reserve its current business decline as, with the rise of new business model in retail, the old large scale bricks and mortar will continue to lose its advantage, especially in the cost/sustainability perspective. One rising competing model is E-commerce. In China, E-commerce, with drive from 2-3 big giant players such as Alibaba, has changed the way people shop. When you go to Walmart stores, even in the CBD of big cities, you don’t see many people. That’s why Walmart has continued to close stores in China for the past several years. So with continuous decline in top-line, I am not sure whether those sustainability/cost saving initiatives will be able to save the retail giant from failure.

Totally resonate with the idea. Cocoa is the most critical raw material and the one with most volatile supply for chocolate manufacturer. Climate change is only going to increase the volatility by adding environmental factors. The player who gains advantages in cocoa supply will have “strategic” long term advantage in the market. When I was visiting Mars’ plantation in Indonesia and observed cocoa production process, I realized how complicated the process was and how little those farmers were earning. Young people in those rural areas were not incentivized to take cocoa production as their jobs. That also contributed to the risk of cocoa supply shortage in the long term. So In Mars SIG project, another very important piece to ensure sustainable cocoa supply in the long term is to improve the welfare of cocoa farmers, such as fair pay and good working conditions, along with training on new and more productive technology for farmers to ensure quality labor input for cocoa production.

Hunter, many thanks for bringing visibility of the issue. Despite coming from China and Sichuan, I was not aware of the role my hometown would be going to play to supply for the country’s energy in the next couple of years. (shame on me…). But after doing some initial search, here come some of my thoughts. I totally agree with you that Chinese government and state-owned-enterprise are highly motivated to combat environmental issues. Social pressure for not addressing environmental issues have mounted so high that it runs the risk of distablizing the rule of the government. Never before has environmental pollution hit headline so often in China. Considering tight media control in the country, the issue must be also the priority of the government to be allowed discussion. Besides, with Paris agreement in place, the alignment of China’s own agenda to push for environmental improvement and the expectation from international community on it to do so will provide good opportunities and support for China to achieve its targets.

While government’s commitment gives me biggest confidence that the issues will be addressed, I think you bring up good points in PetroChina’s problems in the implementation. As far as I know, the government and the company have run several rounds of auctions to lease lands and find partners to execute the plan, from whom both PetroChina and local governments can learn a lot in terms of technology, safety standard, and acquire skilled labors.