On October 17th, JD.com announced it has joined the UN Global Compact’s “Forward Faster” initiative, underscoring the company’s commitment to sustainability and global development. The announcement coincided with Sandra Ojiambo, Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations and CEO and Executive Director of UN Global Compact, visiting JD.com’s headquarters in Beijing, which marked the first enterprise visit of her China tour this week.

The UN Global Compact’s Forward Faster initiative, launched on September 18, 2023, calls on business leaders worldwide to take measurable, credible, and ambitious action in five areas — gender equality, climate action, living wage, water resilience, and finance & investment. These areas have the power to accelerate progress across all SDGs, enabling the private sector to collectively make the biggest and fastest impact by 2030.

“It is a great pleasure connecting with JD.com’s first female CEO, Sandy Xu, and gaining insights into the company’s history and impressive e-commerce platform,” said Sanda Ojiambo. “JD.com has effectively integrated the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into its core operations. We appreciate and welcome the company’s commitment to Forward Faster.”

Sandy Xu, CEO of JD.com, said, ” With our extensive supply chain, technology prowess, and a strong workforce of hundreds of thousands of employees – predominantly from rural backgrounds -JD.com is proud to offer diverse employment avenues. We look forward to collaborating with the UN Global Compact as we strengthen our endeavors in green supply chains, poverty alleviation, and holistic employee welfare. As part of ‘Forward Faster’, our immediate focus is gender equality, underscoring our broader commitment to the global Sustainable Development Goals.”

Sandy Xu (left) and Sanda Ojiambo look at JD’s recyclable delivery boxes, known as the Green Stream Boxes

JD.com has actively participated in various sustainable development activities through the UN Global Compact. The company’s low-carbon operating practices under its Green Stream Initiative, such as promoting green packaging, adopting new energy delivery vehicles, utilizing rooftop solar power for logistics parks, and incorporating sustainable building materials in office buildings, were recognized as best practices in the UN Global Compact’s 2021 whitepaper “Corporate Net Zero Pathway.” JD.com was also among the early adopters to join the UN Global Compact’s Climate Ambition Accelerator (CAA) and Target Gender Equality (TGE) programs in 2022. Notably, JD’s “Sunshine Angel” initiative, which provides people with disabilities with online customer service job opportunities led by women leaders, has been included as a best practice case in TGE.

As JD.com gears up for its upcoming Singles’ Day Grand Promotion from October 23 to November 11, the company has joined forces with several renowned fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies to establish the Green Impact Partners Alliance. This ambitious venture aims to jointly implement actions for green consumption. Covering hundreds of millions of consumers, it is the largest green consumption initiative in the FMCG industry. The initiative includes tree-planting based on sales volumes and a one-yuan donation for afforestation with every consumer purchase. Through carbon-reducing efforts on both the supply and demand sides, JD.com effectively supports responsible production and consumption.

(vivian.yang@jd.com)