Green China?

Is corporate China ready for the green economy? A report from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) asked that question in October 2012 (ACCA and WWF 2012). In PR’s opinion, no! But corporate China is beginning to say the rights things, think about what is needed for a truly better world and seek sustainability credentials.

China has a massive sustainability hill to climb: very high levels of pollution; an avid shopping culture among those Chinese who can afford it; widespread poverty; a huge population; overcrowded cities; and an economy that can seem more dedicatedly capitalist, growth-minded and money conscious than the worst excesses on Wall Street. So PR does not think that China is ready for the Green Economy.

BUT, China and Chinese people are nothing if not adaptable and pragmatic. Chinese history is a record of how China adapts, accommodates change and survives - for over a very sustainable 3,000 years. Chinese people possess strong pragmatic elements, deep-seated ethical awareness and an ancient culture grounded on principles of harmony between heaven, earth and mankind. So PR thinks it quite possible that China could become Green and sustainable before the West.

Furthermore, the joint WWF and ACCA report is encouraging and not only because it identifies job opportunities for accountants:

“When considering the main opportunities for accountants, he [Sean Gilbert, Director KPMG Beijing] first considered accountancy’s historic role in the measurement of financial information, and then suggested that the profession can use the same skills to measure business information beyond the financial context, i.e. information relevant to social and natural capital. Business managers no longer focus on just the financials – CFOs are among the biggest requesters of CSR information, and accountants are ideally placed to gather, measure and assure such information, especially in the context of investment, where the concept of what is ‘material’ has expanded significantly to encompass not only pure finance but also social and environmental information.” (ACCA and WWF 2012, p. 14).

The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is featured in the same report. CNOOC is the largest offshore oil and gas producer in China… so it uses a non-renewable resource and is a major start-of-pipeline source of carbon emissions... and that is not sustainable at all!

Can China balance heaven, earth and economic development?

But such schizophrenia is a world dilemma not just Chinese. So we need to look on the bright-side and find some words of encouragement from CNOOC. Take CNOOC's statement of  responsibilities for example:

“CNOOC tries to provide good quality energy for the development of the state and powerfully support social advance; sticks to the Scientific concept of development and sustainable development to realize harmonious and unified economic benefits, social benefits and environmental benefits.” (CNOOC 2012).

The same good intent is expressed in CNOOC’s goals: “We are committed to maximizing our contribution to economic development, ecological environment protection, and social progress for a better human future.” (ibid.).

If CNOOC really means that they are maximising their social, ecological and economic contributions, then it makes more sense to speak of a “balanced” development rather than in "maximising" terms. CNOOC could then actually generate social, ecological and economic outputs in a true Triple Top Line (TTL) – they would become both 

1. true to China's name, Zhōngguó 中国, literally the "balanced state"; and 

2. global pioneers and an inspiration to the rest of the planet’s energy suppliers.

References

ACCA and WWF. (2012)  Is corporate China ready for the green economy? ACCA, London. Available at < http://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/acca/global/PDF-technical/sustainability-reporting/tech-tp-iccr.pdf> [Accessed 11^th January 2013].

CNOOC. 2012. China National Offshore Oil Corporation. CNNOC, Beijing. Available at < http://en.cnooc.com.cn/data/html/english/channel_1.html> [Accessed 11th January 2013].