Apr 24, 2020| ESG

World Retail Congress Spotlights Role of JD’s Supply Chain in COVID-19 Fight

Ella Kidron

by Ella Kidron and Yuchuan Wang

On April 23^rd, World Retail Congress published the second issue of its fortnightly series, “The Retail World: 2020: Retailing in a time of crisis”. The series provides global retailers insight into how peers around the world are coping with and responding to the needs of their customers, communities and businesses under COVID-19. The issue features submissions from companies from around the world including the likes of Walgreens-Alliance Boots, IKEA Retail, and Lane Crawford Joyce Group.

JD.com’s smart supply chain’s undeniable role in the fight against COVID-19 is highlighted, capturing some of the technological maneuvers behind the company’s support of the medical frontlines as well as Chinese consumers across the country through its supply chain capabilities. Download the full report from the World Retail Congress’ official website: https://www.worldretailcongress.com/congess-content/issue-two-the-retail-world-2020-retailing-in-a-time-of-crisis

World Retail Congress is a key global retail industry organization designed to bring people together in the industry from a wide group of stakeholders to encourage innovation.

The full text of JD’s submission can be found here: https://jdcorporateblog.com/in-depth-report-turning-extraordinary-to-ordinary/

(ella@jd.com; yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

Sep 16, 2022| ESG

JD.com Ranks in BCG’s Most Innovative Companies 2022

Yuchuan Wang

by Yuchuan Wang

JD.com has been recognized for the second time as one of the most innovative companies in the world by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in its 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2022 list released on September 15, ranking at 30^th place.

The ranking is based in large part on a survey of more than 1,500 global innovation executives, with a combination of the company’s performance on four dimensions including global mindshare, industry peer view, industry disruption and value creation. Six other Chinese companies, namely Huawei (8^th), Alibaba (22^nd), Lenovo (24^th), Xiaomi (31^st), Tencent (41^st) and ByteDance (45^th) are also on the list this year.

BCG’s ranking this year specifically recognizes companies’ efforts in climate and sustainability (C&S). According to BCG, two-thirds of the companies in the 2022 survey ranked C&S as a top corporate priority and many of them were among the earliest to embrace environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles and to establish decarbonization commitments.

JD.com has always attached great importance to C&S. The company’s “Green Stream Initiative” has addressed key environmental issues in the retail and logistics industry in terms of green warehousing, transportation, packaging and more.

In 2019, JD set a goal to reduce carbon emissions by 50 percent by the year 2030, and its logistics arm, JD Logistics, became the first company of China’s logistics sector to join the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). This year, JD.com also incorporated the TCFD framework in its annual ESG report for the first time.

To view BCG’s Most Innovative Companies of 2022 overview, visit: https://www.bcg.com/publications/2022/innovation-in-climate-and-sustainability-will-lead-to-green-growth

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

Aug 26, 2022| ESG

JD.com Named among 2022 FORTUNE China ESG Impact List

Vivian Yang

by Vivian Yang and Xinyi Guan

JD.com has been named among FORTUNE China’s “2022 China ESG Impact List” released on August 23^rd , together with 39 companies. This is the first time FORTUNE has taken ESG performance a metric to review companies in China, in hopes of honoring the vanguards and raising awareness of the ESG concept in China’s business community.

The list is conducted through a number of surveys, case studies, company interviews and also takes into account the finalists’ ESG information disclosure completeness and their comparative status in respective industries based on Retinitis’s data.

JD.com’s efforts in delivering essential supplies in the ongoing anti-COVID fights, its carbon reduction actions throughout the supply chain, and several governance practices are highlighted by FORTUNE China.

FORTUNE editor’s note:

JD.com’s “Green Stream Initiative” is exploring carbon reduction in every part of its supply chain ranging from packaging, warehousing, transportation, to product recycling and more. By the end of 2021, its “Green Stream Boxes” and other recyclable delivery packages have been accumulatively used 200 million times. Over the past five years, through close collaboration with partners from up and down-streams, the company enabled tens of thousands products to be delivered with original packages, saving the industry 10 billion disposable packages which equal to 20 million trees. JD Logistics is the first company of China’s logistics sector to join the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), committing to cut total carbon emissions by 50% from its 2019 level by 2030.

In March to May 2022, during Shanghai’s COVID-19 outbreak, JD summoned over 5,000 couriers and sorters from around the country and put in over RMB 2 billion yuan to ensure essential goods supply and support the livelihood of local people. On company governance, JD has included anti-corruption and other ESG-related targets into employees’ assessment, and in its board of directors, the percentage of independent directors has reached 66 percent.

While ranking the “biggest” companies on its the Global 500 list, FORTUNE also believes that it is equally important to identify those “respectable” companies who are pursuing heart-warming values beyond financial numbers, by improving the environment, protecting their employees and supporting communities. Their on-going practices are positively redefining the meaning of businesses.

Earlier this month, FORTUNE released the 2022 Global 500 list, in which JD.com moved up to the 46th position, continuing to stay top among Chinese companies of the industry six years in a row. The company is ranked 7^th on FORTUNE China 500.

This May, JD.com released its “2021 Environment, Society and Governance Report”, including a dedicated chapter for the first time on climate change-related opportunities and risks that aligns with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The report shows that in the past year, JD advanced its carbon-reduction actions on all fronts from daily operations, supply chain management to sustainable consumption promotion and more. Meanwhile, JD has been supporting over 27,000 new, leading and specialized SMEs that are recognized at the provincial level. JD’s rural revitalization initiative, known as the “March to Rich Plan” has driven China’s rural areas to achieve an output value of RMB 320 billion yuan. On employment, by the end of 2021, the total number of JD employees including listed and non-listed companies exceeded 420,000, with 80 percent of its frontline staff coming from rural areas.

During the fight against COVID resurgences in China this spring, JD Logistics delivered more than 150,000 tons of essential goods to affected people, including staple food, medicines, infant and maternal products and more. Over 5,000 frontline workers were dispatched to Shanghai where they went up and beyond to ensure local people’s livelihoods, such as setting up more than 1,600 contact-free delivery stations in the neighborhoods. Incomplete statistics showed that the company has put in a total of RMB 2 billion yuan in supporting the fight against the pandemic in Shanghai, Beijing and other regions with outbreaks this year so far.

Positioned as a new type of real economy enterprise with both real economy DNA and attributes, and digital technologies and capabilities, JD.com attaches great importance to its social responsibilities since day one. On occasions of floods, pandemic outbreaks and other disaster alleviation events, the company can always be seen in the frontline and spare no effort to support the society. At the same time, the company continues to build and integrate its “Responsible Supply Chain” and its “Three Networks” of merchandises, warehouses and tech-driven services, which go beyond enhancing the stability and reliability of its own supply chain. By opening these infrastructure and technological capabilities, JD is also enabling more and more enterprises in its industrial ecosystem along the supply chain to accelerate their digital transformation and help them improve cost and efficiency, thus contributing to the smooth and high-quality growth of the real economy.

(vivian.yang@jd.com)