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by Martin Li

JD’s continued efforts to build green data centers cover design, construction and operation of low-carbon facilities, said Zhou Xiaobin, who is in charge of data center construction at JD Technology (JDT), on April 9.

“From the very beginning, we applied a low power usage effectiveness (PUE) design, and then put it into practice in construction and operations,” said Zhou. PUE is the ratio of total amount of energy used by a computer data center facility to the energy delivered to computing equipment. It’s considered higher effectiveness when this number is closer to 1.

Completed in 2016, JD’s data center in Suqian, Jiangsu province, has reached the lowest PUE – 1.28 – in east China, according to Zhou.

“With the help of technologies like machine learning and experience learning, we are able to achieve  accurate monitoring of the data center’s temperature and humidity. Then based on collected data, we plan our power management strategy and have our operations and maintenance team execute it, in an effort to increase efficiency as much as possible,” said Zhou.

“Without these green efforts, the PUE of the Suqian data center would reach around 1.4,” said Zhou.

The Suqian facility is JD’s first self-built data center. The average temperature is 14.2 degrees Celsius in the area, which means equipment can be cooled purely through outdoor cooling sources almost five months of each year. This also means lower operations costs.

Currently, Zhou’s team is pushing further by applying energy recycling at the Suqian facility.

Solar photovoltaic panels are being installed at the center to power some office buildings and supporting facilities.

“We will install more panels to increase green power supply,” said Zhou.

Another two green data centers under construction are located in Langfang, Hebei province and Kunshan, Jiangsu province.

The designed PUE of the two new centers is around 1.21, according to Zhou.

 

(bjlihao3@jd.com)

by Kelly Dawson

JD.com’s 2020 ESG report released today underscores the e-commerce giant’s commitment to rural revitalization and poverty alleviation, as already recognized last month when the Beijing Municipal Government awarded JD with the Poverty Alleviation Collaboration Award.

“Through e-commerce, finance, public welfare and other platforms, we provide education subsidies, employment opportunities, production resources and development channels for poorer regions, developing our own value in eliminating absolute poverty and realizing rural revitalization,” the  report states.

“As outlined in the report, JD remains absolutely committed to rural revitalization efforts,” said Baozheng Long, vice president of JD.com and vice chair and secretary of JD Foundation, which was created in September 2014 with the mission of advocating corporate responsibility for a higher quality of life, and supporting public welfare. “Going forward, JD will continue to promote the development of the countryside economy, and will aim to ensure sustainable business for people in these areas.”

Much of JD’s efforts in these areas follow founder Richard Liu’s long-held belief that the company should provide people with the tools to not only survive but build thriving businesses. “We want to provide a sustainable way to help people in rural areas,” Liu previously said. “We’d rather teach them to fish than give them fish.”

For example, as of Sept. 30, 2020, JD had helped 110 impoverished counties put more than 3 million local commodities online, and achieved RMB 100 billion yuan in poverty alleviation-related sales, directly driving more than 1 million impoverished households to increase their income, according to the report.

Additionally, from September 2019 to February 2021, JD’s social e-commerce platform Jingxi has helped tens of thousands of farms sell products to consumers across China, selling out over one million local specialties.

JD’s in-house logistics network has played a key role in helping rural farms bring produce to the rest of the country, with the company’s expertise in other areas also proving essential. In Hubei province’s Zhuxi township, JD has provided support for local farmers of the plant Konjac in the form of improved logistics, supply chain, marketing and digitalization, resulting in significantly increased revenues for the farmers, according to the county.

Additionally, more than 80% of JD’s front-line employees are from China’s rural areas.

“We help establish a more productive and sustainable future in terms of promoting employment, enhancing rural revitalization, improving social efficiency, driving high-quality consumption, facilitating the digitalization of the real economy, and supporting supply-side structural reforms, thereby proactively being accountable for social responsibility,” the report notes.

Led by the ideas of social innovation and entrepreneurship, the JD Foundation has also organized Internet charity fundraising projects like “Exchange Old Clothes for Love,” a clothing donation project that successfully recycled more than 47,300 pieces of clothing in 90 Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and more. In addition to being a public welfare project, “Exchange Old Clothes for Love” also aimed to promote environmentally friendly, low-waste lifestyles.

In 2020, JD Foundation donated around RMB 200 million yuan; and its online donation platform raised RMB 19.77 million yuan and collected more than 1.27 million charitable items, with the total participation of around 3.75 million people.

 

(kellydawson@jd.com)

by Yuchuan Wang

As China’s largest retailer in China, JD.com has made great efforts in reducing packaging waste, through establishing operations regulations, technology innovation, and collaboration with up and downstream partners. In its first ESG report released on Apr. 19, the company announced that it has facilitated hundreds of brand enterprises to join in using green packaging, which has reduced industry-wide disposable packaging usage by nearly 10 billion pieces.

As said by Richard Liu, chairman and founder of JD.com in his letter accompanying the ESG report, “China is playing an increasingly important role in global climate and environmental governance… JD is accelerating its own low-carbon development through technological means, promoting the green transformation of the industry, and leading society toward green consumption.”

Express delivery package volume in China has exploded in the past decade, growing from 5.7 billion in 2012 to over 80 billion in 2020, thanks to the development of e-commerce. The skyrocketing number of parcels also poses concerns regarding packaging waste and environmental pollution. If each package is to weigh 0.2 kilograms, then 16 million tons of such waste was produced last year.

 

Optimization of packaging materials

The optimization of packaging involves introducing new materials to reduce thickness, weight or width, such as cardboard boxes, plastic bags and even adjustments to packaging tape.

“JD has adopted three-layer (which are normally five-layer) cardboard boxes for 95% of its cardboard packaging, while the average rate in China is 60% to 70%. [JD’s rate is] even higher than the in the US which is 90%,” said Jerry Duan, head of JD’s Green Stream Initiative.

Similarly, JD has managed to decrease the thickness of plastic delivery bags from 60 to 70 micrometers to 40 to 50 micrometers.

In 2015, JD.com proposed the concept of “Slim Tape” to the industry to replace 60 millimeter packaging tape with 45 millimeter ones, based on the company’s repeated and verified tests in its own logistics business. Now, JD’s “Slim Tape” has been included into China’s standards for postal industry and used in external logistics enterprises. By promoting it and reusable boxes, tape usage at JD can be reduced by 630 million meters per year.

JD also researched an advanced system to facilitate warehouse workers in choosing the right packaging and minimize waste. According to Duan, there are at least a hundred types of packaging used in JD’s warehouses. It can be hard to employees to eyeball which one might be most effective in reducing waste.

The JD intelligent packaging recommendation system automatically suggests the suitable packages in the best size according to the size of the order, and guides workers on how to arrange the products to save space. The accuracy of the recommendation can exceed 96.5%.

 

Reusable packages

As early as in 2015, JD.com began to use reusable cold chain boxes for its fresh produce business, instead of the standard disposable foam boxes, making it the first e-commerce company in China to adopt recyclable packaging. JD’s in-house logistics makes it possible for the boxes to be collected and reused to its warehouses and other production scenarios. So far, 180 million disposable foam boxes have been reduced.

In December 2017, the reusable Green Stream Box was officially introduced for normal temperature goods such as FMCG products. Today, these green-colored boxes have been widely used as normal containers in over 30 cities in China, with over 16 million times of use in total.

In the warehouse, JD has replaced its disposable woven bags with recyclable transfer bags used in the process of goods transfer from warehousing centers to distribution centers. With the average utilization rate of over 98%, transfer bags can save nearly 80 million disposable plastic woven bags annually.

JD Logistics, JD.com’s logistics arm, also launched the Green Packaging Alliance and China’s E-commerce & Logistics Packaging Standards Alliance, which developed the industry’s first packaging standards and is playing an important role in promoting the industry’s environmental-friendly development. Members of the alliances include giants such as P&G, L’Oréal, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Unicharm, Kimberly-Clark, Blue Moon, Mengniu, Lenovo, ZTE and more.

 

Innovation from the origin

It is not uncommon for e-commerce companies to repackage products with complicated materials such as multi cardboard, bubble wrap, paper and buffing pads, to prevent damaged in transport.

“In order to get rid of secondary packaging for e-commerce sales, we are working with the upstream brand owners to adjust the design of their original packaging,” said Duan. “Manufactures need to re-design their packaging to meet the requirement of long transportation of a single product for online sales.”

“It means that from the factory of a brand to the warehouse of JD and to the doorstep of our customers, no additional packaging is needed,” explained Duan.

By collaborating with JD, P&G has fully shifted to use original packaging for its products in all its e-commerce channels. And the original packaging has helped hundreds of brand enterprises reduce industry-wide disposable packaging usage by nearly 10 billion pieces from 2014 to 2020.

 

Leading a green supply chain

In addition to packaging, JD is also leading in green warehousing.

The company pioneered a rooftop distributed solar PV system in Shanghai “Asia No.1” logistics park in 2017, which has been supplying the energy for warehouse lighting, automatic sorting, automatic packaging, automatic picking and other activities. In 2020, the power generation reached 2.538 million kwh, equivalent to approximately 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions reductions and saving approximately 800 tons of standard coal. A total of more than 200 megawatts of solar PV power plants are expected to be installed in JD’s logistics and intelligent industrial parks by the end of 2021, to achieve an annual power generation of more than 160 million kwh after completion.

In transportation, the company has been gradually replacing traditional fuel-combustion trucks with new energy vehicles since 2017 and has adopted such new energy vehicles in more than 50 cities across China, reducing at least 120,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. In addition, JD has built and introduced more than 1,600 charging stations nationwide to better support the operations of the vehicles. Big data is applied to provide drivers the real-time optimal route planning to help reduce the number of vehicles in transit, increase the full load rate of return vehicles, and optimize the efficiency of logistics transportation.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

by Ella Kidron

JD.com released its first ESG report on Apr. 19. Stemming from its mission of “Powered by Technology for a More Productive and Sustainable World,” the report highlights JD’s long-term approach to ESG initiatives. It captures JD’s corporate social responsibility strategic framework, which is centered on using digitally intelligent supply chain to cover three pillars: boosting the real economy, improving social efficiency and enhancing environmental friendliness. A few areas worth noting include: Green supply chain, green data centers, poverty alleviation and giving.

Green supply chain

As a supply chain-based technology and service provider, JD contributes to China’s carbon neutrality goal and global climate action by building a cleaner supply chain system with a lower carbon footprint. JD’s green supply chain efforts span logistics, warehousing and transportation.

With the rapid increase in express delivery packages in circulation from 5.7 billion in 2012 to over 80 billion in China in 2020, optimizing packaging material is of critical importance. JD’s reusable packaging boxes have been used over 16 million times, according to the ESG report. With the introduction of cold chain boxes, JD has realized a cumulative reduction of 180 million disposable foam boxes and 600 million disposable ice packs. Additionally, the company has promoted “slim” tape, slimming tape from 60 mm to 45 mm in width, resulting in a reduction of 400 million meters (roughly 100 times the circumference of the Earth) of tape per year.

JD Logistics, JD.com’s logistics arm, also launched the Green Packaging Alliance and China’s E-commerce & Logistics Packaging Standards Alliance, which developed the industry’s first packaging standards and is playing an important role in promoting the industry’s environmental-friendly development. Facilitating brands to join its green manufacturing initiative has reduced industry-wide disposable packaging usage by nearly 10 billion pieces.

In addition to packaging, the company has pioneered green warehousing with a rooftop distributed solar PV system in the Shanghai Asia No. 1 intelligent logistics park established in 2017. In 2020, the power generation reached 2.538 million kwh, equivalent to approximately 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions reductions and saving approximately 800 tons of standard coal.

Green data centers

Through low-carbon design, green procurement, energy management, efficient resources use and waste management, as well as daily green operations, JD has achieved greener data center practices with a lower carbon footprint. The data centers’ annual average power usage effectiveness (PUE) is decreasing each year, reaching below 1.3 by utilizing energy-saving technologies such as frequency conversion and indirect evaporative cooling, as well as refined operations and maintenance management. (It’s more energy effective if the PUE ratio is closer to 1.0)

In the future, the data centers will use new technology that recycles residual heat derived from data center operations, to provide a green and clean heat source for urban integrated heat supply networks. In addition to JD’s first self-built data center in Suqian, Jiangsu province, another two green data centers under construction are located in Langfang, Hebei province and Kunshan, Jiangsu province. According to Xiaobin Zhou, who is in charge of data center construction at JD Technology, the designed PUE of the new centers is around 1.21.

JD Foundation and the JD Giving Platform

In 2020, JD Foundation, JD.com’s charity affiliate, donated around RMB 200 million yuan. Its online donation platform, the JD Giving Platform, raised RMB 19.77 million yuan and collected more than 1.27 million charitable items, with the total participation of around 3.75 million people.

The JD Giving platform is the first Internet fundraising platform recognized by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People’s Republic of China. Through the platform, purchases can be made by adding them to their JD shopping carts as they would other products and then items are delivered directly to the charity program by JD’s efficient logistics system.

The platform features two major functions, with one being the support of the collection and donation of idle materials (such as clothing and toys) and the second being the support of monetary donations and one-click purchasing of materials from JD to be donated to products in need. According to the ESG Report, from 2019-2020 JD initiated several rounds of its clothing recycling program in partnership with China Charity Federation to help children with premature heart disease. More than 473,000 items of clothing from across 90 cities in China have been collected through the platform.

Commitment to Rural Revitalization

As underscored in the report, JD is committed to poverty alleviation and the ongoing rural revitalization in China. By Sept. 30, 2020, JD had helped 110 impoverished counties put more than 3 million local commodities online, and achieved RMB 100 billion yuan in poverty alleviation-related sales, directly driving more than 1 million impoverished households to increase their income.

Powered by technology for a more productive and sustainable world

In his letter accompanying the report, Richard Liu, chairman and CEO of JD.com, wrote: “ESG investment that incorporates environmental and social factors into the overall risk assessment of enterprises, and pays more attention to long-term value creation, is becoming a mainstream trend of the global capital markets. In this context, the world’s leading companies have updated their sustainable development goals and strengthened their mission and commitment to the future. JD is one of these leading companies—in 2020, we released a new group mission—Powered by Technology for a More Productive and Sustainable World.”

Despite this being the company’s first ESG report, which it voluntarily opted to publish, JD’s investment in corporate social responsibility goes much deeper, as was evident from the very beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak.

When COVID-19 swept the world, JD spared no effort in fighting the virus. As noted in the report, the company leveraged its leading advantages in supply chain and logistics through a series of efficient, reliable and innovative anti-epidemic measures to meet social needs with medical resources and daily necessities. JD quickly galvanized and formed a steering committee to make critical decisions and execute deployment as well as a special team for epidemic prevention and control to ensure the health and wellness of all employees and other stakeholders. From Jan. 21-Mar. 31, JD Logistics (JDL) transported over 70 million emergency medical supplies for free, with a total weight of more than 30,000 tons.

Liu wrote: “In terms of risk likelihood and impact for the next decade, extreme weather, climate action failure, human-led environmental damage, public health crises, and biodiversity loss constitute the five most significant risks globally. Actively seeking solutions to these risks will bring new growth opportunities to the post-pandemic world.”

Liu closed: “As a ‘supply chain-based technology and service provider,’ JD will continue to devote more efforts to building a more sustainable world with its supply chain capabilities.”

View a short video of highlights from the ESG report below:

 

JD.com’s Manifesto on Reducing Carbon Emissions

Climate change is a long-term and far-reaching threat to human kind, and it has been global consensus of going green and low carbon for development. JD.com is committed to becoming a leading enterprise in reducing carbon emissions and actively responds to the national strategy of China aiming to have CO₂ emissions peak before 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060. We are fully practicing a green and low carbon development philosophy in doing our business and constructing a business ecosystem that is in harmony with nature. We are committed to becoming a leader in carbon reduction and inspiring more consumers and ecosystem partners to participate in the construction of an ecological civilization system and together create a new realm with high quality development.

JD.com strives to build a green and low carbon business model and leverages its core competencies including infrastructure and innovative technologies to continuously build a lower carbon and cleaner supply chain system. We will deepen JD.com’s sustainable actions represented by the Green Stream Initiative, and promote green procurement, energy management, efficient use of resources and manage waste. We will strengthen the deep convergence of the idea of green into our activities to build a daily green operations mechanism and make JD.com a firm advocate and vigorous practitioner of green and low carbon in the process of innovation and development.

JD.com will fully open up its Digitally Intelligent Social Supply Chain, joining its eco-partners, and drive up and downstream industries to jointly follow a green and low carbon development path. We will fully open up our technology and services to help the up and downstream partners lower circulation costs, improve operating efficiency and reduce energy consumption. We will comprehensively strengthen our supply chain-based technology and services to power the intelligent digital transformation in industries such as energy and manufacturing. We will lead energy efficiency optimization in the industry to work with more partners and industry representatives to create a beautiful and eco-friendly earth, our common homeland.

JD.com strongly advocates “responsible consumption” and encourage its customers to consume and live in a green and low carbon way and cultivate their willingness to choose green and low carbon products. Through recommending green products and innovations such as setting up carbon credits for green consumption, we internalize the green and low carbon, civilized and healthy consumption philosophy. We are also promoting green consumption to drive green manufacturing and help the whole society form the idea of green development and consumption.

Go together, we will go far and little drops of water will make the mighty ocean. JD.com is willing to work with more ecosystem partners and consumers to promote green development, low carbon transformation and sustainable consumption, and contribute to the realization of China’s CO₂ emissions peak and carbon neutralization goals and the sustainable development of the globe.

 

(ella@jd.com)