by Yiming Yan

JD.com’s recently issued ESG 2021 report reflects the company’s ambition to be technology-based for a more efficient and sustainable world.

JD has been employing digital capabilities to increase supply chain efficiency and achieve sustainable development via technological innovation on the value of “boosting the real economy with JD’s identity as a real economy enterprise.”

As an example of the green data industry’s long-term growth, JD Cloud and Huawei have teamed up to release a new intelligent environment handling unit (EHU) that can achieve a power use effectiveness (PHU) of less than 1.25 in common application scenarios.

JD.com is actively exporting this expertise to boost the digital development of other industries while driving upstream and downstream firms in the supply chain to realize digital transformation.

JD Cloud is JD Group’s main technology and service brand. It makes use of cutting-edge technologies including artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT), as well as JD.com’s digital intelligence supply chain, and is a digital intelligence solution provider with a superior understanding of the industry. JD Cloud has supplied digital solutions to over 1,500 large businesses and 1.5 million SMEs as of today.

By 2021, JD.com will have completed more than 300 industrial projects in collaboration with the government, benefiting more than 70 cities. While assisting cities in establishing an integrated development platform and delivering integrated services for the entire industrial chain, JD.com creates an entry point for businesses to receive services related to their products and operations, and eventually connects the digital and real economy to stimulate industrial upgrading.

JD has currently used cloud technology to serve over 70 industrial parks, covering over 4,000 businesses and connecting over 200,000 upstream and downstream businesses in the industrial chain.

For example, JD Cloud has established a patented hybrid cloud platform basis for BAIC Group, merging 15 data centers and 19 clouds into one to suit the needs of a steady-state enterprise like manufacturing, using the hybrid multi-cloud operating system Cloud Ship. It enables BAIC Group to save 50 percent on system duplication construction expenses while also providing a 50 percent increase in overall production line productivity.

While helping to digitalize the industry chain, JD.com is also working to promote social governance and regional economic development through digital technology. JD.com has a strong digital intelligence social supply chain, cutting-edge technical service capabilities, and extensive expertise in assisting regional economic development.

Using the smart city cooperation between JD Cloud and city of Datong in Shanxi province as an example, a number of projects promoting industrial upgrading have been launched since 2018, including cloud computing database, e-commerce ecological industrial park, modern agriculture center, industrial innovation demonstration center, and new economic talent training institute. By deploying a number of innovative technologies, the construction of Datong’s digital transformation and high-quality development has been greatly promoted.

“In the past few years, we have firmly invested in supply chain infrastructure construction and digital intelligent technology research and development, a path that has at times been bitter and challenging but will also deliver the highest value,” said Richard Liu, Chairman and founder of JD.com, in the ESG report. “We are glad to see that our persistence has enabled partners to achieve high-quality development.”

 

(yanyiming1@jd.com)

by Doris Liu

As highlighted in its latest Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report, JD.com is always devoted to boosting inclusive development, embracing more people to participate fully in and benefit from development efforts.

The company helps people in financial hardship, with medical issues or in need of other help, not only via public welfare programs but also by revitalizing rural areas with its digital and technological capabilities.

With its supply chain advantages and solid capabilities in infrastructure construction, JD.com launched the “Benfu Plan” for rural revitalization in October 2020. The plan has been working with more than 1,000 agricultural specialties production zones and agricultural industry belts in China by setting up an all-chain path, realizing an output value of RMB 320 billion yuan as of the end of 2021.

Meanwhile, the company connected to over 500 large-scale vegetable cultivation bases and jointly built more than 70 modernized, standardized, and smart farms with some 700 online pavilions (online stores) for local specialties.

“We continue to increase investment in rural supply chain infrastructure and technology services, opening the whole industrial chain in rural areas, and comprehensively promoting rural revitalization through comprehensive solutions,” stated Richard Liu, chairman of the board of JD.com in his letter accompanying the ESG report.

For instance, Jingxi Farm, a rural revitalization solution launched by JD’s online consumption mall Jingxi, initiated the “Village Empowerment Action”, aimed to reduce the costs of agricultural supplies and improve the efficiency of agricultural services. So far over ten thousand farmers in eight provinces have benefited from the program with an uplift of average yield by 10-20 percent per mu, saving RMB 50-100 yuan per mu every year (a mu=0.0667 hectares).

By increasing millions of farmers’ income substantially through the rural revitalization plan, JD.com also created equal employment opportunities. Among the 300,000 front-line employees, 80 percent are from rural areas who enjoy a stable income , social security insurance and other favorable benefit policies to guarantee their livelihood and career path.

Children in under-developed areas were also helped by JD’s charity affiliate JD Foundation in the forms of donating books, improving their living conditions, and providing various supplies and services worth RMB 967,000 yuan to the SOS Children’s Villages.

More than 67,000 books were donated in a campaign to schools in rural areas in 2021. The donated books, picked up and delivered by JD’s couriers for free, not only cultivate younger generations’ reading habits with access to quality reading material, but also promote recycling for the environment.

In terms of charity support to patients, more than 24,000 patients with rare diseases were able to purchase medicines and obtain medication services from JD Health, and 69 patients with rare diseases were aided under the Rare Disease Care Project.

Created on September 24, 2014, JD Foundation donated over RMB 120 million yuan in 2021. The foundation always adheres to its mission of advocating corporate responsibility for a higher quality of life, and supporting public welfare.

Ranked by FORTUNE as both one of the world’s Most Admired Companies and the Chinese company with the highest “social responsibility” score, JD.com will continue to make contributions to society with business value and social responsibility.

 

(liujun215@jd.com)

– JD.com releases its second ESG report, with a chapter aligning with TCFD framework for the first time.
– The company pledges RMB 1 billion yuan in its green supply chain upgrading, known as the “Green Stream Initiative”.
– Positioned as “a new type of real economy enterprise”, JD.com is committed to serving tangible businesses of all industries.
– JD.com continues to monitor its organizational health status and recognize employees with competitive benefits.

Beijing, China, May 24, 2022 – JD.com Inc. (Nasdaq: JD; HKEX: 9618), a leading supply chain-based technology and service provider, issued its second annual ESG Report, outlining the company’s 2021 progress in the areas of developing green supply chains, boosting the real economy, promoting high-quality consumption and social efficiency, and more.

Read JD’s ESG Report 2021 in English

First report aligning with TCFD

JD’s proactive reporting and dedicating a chapter on climate change-related opportunities and risks that aligns with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), a standard set by the Financial Stability Board of G20, for the first time in this year’s report is evidence of the company’s deep commitment to environmental and social responsibilities and its business philosophy of long-termism.

“We incorporated the TCFD framework in this year’s ESG report to develop a risk governance strategy for 2030, and through carrying out systematic transformations, we hope to build the company’s climate competitiveness while gaining new growth opportunities in the next decade,’ wrote Richard Liu, chairman of the Board of JD.com, in his letter accompanying the report.

The “Green Stream Initiative”

The ESG report revealed that JD.com has set a 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.

As of the end of 2021, the Green Stream Initiative has driven China’s e-commerce logistics sector to reduce the use of nearly 10 billion disposable packages, replaced with reusable delivery boxes made of 100 percent recyclable materials that have so far been used 200 million times, involving participation of more than 200,000 merchants and hundreds of millions of consumers.

Meanwhile, JD’s Xi’an Asia No.1 Logistics Industrial Park is certified as China’s first carbon-neutral logistics park. JD Logistics has put 20,000 new energy vehicles into use in over 50 cities across the country, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 400,000 tons per year. JD Cloud’s green data centers reached a PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) of below 1.1, lowering 30 percent energy use of its infrastructure and 10 percent of carbon emissions year on year. The company’s newly-finished eco-friendly headquarters building received the highest rate of 3-star grade by the Green Building Label, the sustainable architecture evaluation system in China. These are only a few of JD’s various carbon-reduction achievements over the past year.

Serving the real economy

Stemming from its mission of “powered by technology for a more productive and sustainable world”, JD.com further elaborated on its identity in the report as “a new type of real economy enterprise” that possesses both the attributes of the real economy in its DNA, and the technologies and know-hows to serve the digital transformation of tangible businesses.

With the inventory turnover days in 2021 further decreasing to a world-leading level of 30.3 days, an advanced R&D platform for C2M (Consumer-to-Manufacturer) products, extensive cloud computing infrastructure spreading across 70 cities and more, JD.com is providing digitally intelligent solutions to support the quality growth of enterprises across industries. As many small and medium-sized enterprises bore the brunt of COVID-19’s impact in the past year, JD introduced an array of fee-waiving policies and fully leveraged its smart supply chain competences to keep up their business operations, going above and beyond to ensure stable and timely goods supply to society at fair prices.

Meanwhile, supporting farmers and agricultural development is a high priority on JD’s agenda. The report shows that to date, JD.com has provided secured job opportunities to more than 300,000 frontline workers with over 80 percent coming from rural areas. Far beyond sending parcels to villages, by the end of 2021, the company has collaborated with over 1,000 agricultural production zones, co-created over 70 modernized farms, and established over 700 online pavilions to support the marketing and circulation of premium agricultural products, which have generated RMB 32 million yuan ($4.8 million) production value and increased income for millions of farmers.

Organizational health and employee benefits

In order to maintain a sound and stable development, JD.com conducts a survey annually to monitor its organizational health status, as well as offering trainings of business ethics and information security to all employees, including part- and full-time, and outsourced employees.

JD.com has established a comprehensive privacy protection mechanism covering management, technology, organizational mechanisms and more, and has obtained ISO27701 certification for the majority of JD.com’s core businesses including JD Retail, JD Logistics, JD Health and JD Technology. All business scenarios and system development processes that involve user privacy need to go through a Privacy Impact Assessment in accordance with required procedures, and will be tested and verified by security tools. At the same time, JD.com hires a third-party organization, BSI, every year to conduct supervision and examination of its privacy and security work.

In terms of employee management, the company has appointed Pang Zhang, who is Chief Human Resources Officer at JD.com, as its Chief Diversity Officer, responsible for JD’s diversity, equality and inclusion affairs. In addition, JD.com is devoted to a concept of comprehensive motivation and strategy implementation for employees by providing a competitive system of benefits and salary. It offers performance-linked incentives to all full-time employees, recognizes employees’ contributions to the company, promotes business development, and continues to share the company’s achievements with employees. With continuous investment in employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), JD.com has developed a complete personnel incentive and coverage system for management, technicians, professionals, and frontline employees with excellent performance.

 

Read the full text of JD’s ESG Report 2021 here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(press@jd.com )