Communication for Sustainable Development

China's Top 100 Green Companies

"China's Top 100 Green Companies", brought forward by the Daonong Centre for Enterprises and the Green Herald Magazine, which aims at "promoting business sustainability", was unveiled at the 2011 Annual Summit of Green Companies on April 22, 2011.

Mr. Liu Donghua, Co-Chairman of the Expert Committee of China's Top 100 Green Companies, and the founder and Deputy Vice Chairman of China Entrepreneur Club (CEC) attended the award ceremony. Mr. Liu pointed out that "the human society is making new demands on businesses, and companies face pressure from unprecedented changes. This new demand has highlighted the necessity of enterprises to not only seek profits in conformity with the law, but also to protect the environment and stakeholders, so as to integrate the economic profits of an enterprise with social and ecological benefits."

Mr. Cai Jian, Executive Dean of Peking University Innovation Education and Research Institute (PIER) and member of the Expert Committee of China's Top 100 Green Companies, also shared his views on the background, social significance, and the public credibility and specificity of "China's Top 100 Green Companies." He believes that "the selection of China's Top 100 Green Companies encourages us to seriously reflect on the growth model of the Chinese economy. As the main innovative body to promote sustainable development, enterprises must abolish the business model that conquers nature, and adopt a new model that uses business capabilities to create a green harmony between human and nature."

Representatives from the 2011 China's Top 100 Green Companies also made remarks at the award ceremony.

Winners for this year's China's Top 100 Green Companies were first screened from China Enterprises 500, China Private Enterprises 500 and Fortune 500. Information was collected, disputable events investigated and quantitative information rated in accordance with the "Assessment Standards for China's Top 100 Green Companies." The winner's list was then finalized by the Expert Assessment Committee. This year's winners include 50 private enterprises, 20 state-holding enterprises and 30 foreign enterprises.

According to Mr. Zhang Kaiwen, who is in charge of the China's Top 100 Green Companies project, "Green Value" was at the center of standards and policies in this year's selection process. Mr. Wan Shi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of China Vanke Co., Ltd., has put it at an interview not long ago that "As one of the China's Top 100 Green Companies, Vanke regards highly of this honor, but is also under a lot of pressure. What distinguishes China's Top 100 Green Companies from other honors of its kind is the inclusion of moral value standards in its evaluations. In this sense, companies must perform better. And hence, from a certain perspective, the competition is fiercer."

"Green Innovation" is another index that makes the list different from other ratings of its kind, both domestically and internationally. China's Top 100 Green Companies aims at discovering enterprises that promote green development through the introduction of technology, products, models, organizations and market innovation, with the support from entrepreneurs under the premise of safeguarding business morals and abiding by the principle of sustainable development. Sustainable development is intertwined with innovation, and innovation is the only solution to meet the goals of green companies.

For assessment, the project team for China's Top 100 Green Companies studied the rating systems for green companies used domestically and internationally. The team also disclosed and controlled for "management and its transparency, quality of information collected, research process and results manifestation." The project team introduced the "Internal Quantitative Comparison Rating System for Green Indexes" for the first time in China. It also used "Industry-targeted Indexes" as the main targets for comparison to enhance specificity and credibility. (For more detailed information, please see the "China's Top 100 Green Companies Report")

It is noteworthy that the project team for China's Top 100 Green Companies continuously followed and monitored the disputable events in the companies that were awarded this prize in 2010. Legal, economical, social and environmental issues were looked at, in particular issues involving business credibility, trade credibility, economical damage, cooperate management, consumer relations, employees' rights and interests, supply chain management, public philanthropy, environmental pollution and resource waste. Through information collection, verification and analyses of disputable events and the scrutiny by the Expert Assessment Committee from China's Top 100 Green Companies, 22 enterprises from the 2010 China's Top 100 Green Companies including Alibaba, Wall-Mart, Tencent and Petro China were disqualified for selection this year due to "loss of values", "viscous competition", "viscous environmental issues", "differences between words and deeds", "inadequate information disclosure", "deviation from the industry" and "inconsistent strategies towards China and abroad". These companies were regarded as setting "regretful examples" for other enterprises.

This decision is in accord with the development vision of China's Top 100 Green Companies. The project hopes to utilize business logic to set up a positive, social and environmental "Green Camp." This camp shall consist of new types of enterprises that can create and grasp business opportunities and realize sustainable development while operating in harmony with the social and environmental ecosystems.

In order to do so, the project team shall elevate the selection standards for "China's Top 100 Green Companies" on an annual basis. The preciseness for "economical, social, environmental, innovational and transparency" indexes shall be raised and perfected. Furthermore, the degree of control for "disputable events" will also be upgraded. Enterprises on the list shall continuously be reminded to improve on their performances, as there will be opportunities for latecomers to join in the queue of "China's Top 100 Green Companies."

We believe that the "Green Camp" with "China's Top 100 Green Companies" as the focus shall form a wider union with the government, NGOs, media and investment institutions to promote for a greener Chinese society and greener enterprises.

A Brief History on "China's Top 100 Green Companies":

The selection of China Green Companies was initiated by China Entrepreneur Club (CEC) in May of 2007. On the first two Annual Summits, 20 exemplary green companies were selected from Chinese companies and foreign enterprises. Champion enterprises operating within the Chinese border with outstanding green performances were selected to be on the list. In 2010, based on the foundation laid by two previous Annual Summits, CEC decided to expand the selection scope and launch a selection project for "China's Top 100 Green Companies". "China's Top 100 Green Companies" is unveiled at the Annual Summit of Green Companies annually. 
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