As the most populous developing country, China faces the pressures of resource shortage and environment protection in the course of its socio-economic development, said Chen Jinhua, Chairman of China Enterprise Confederation (CEC) and China Enterprise Directors' Association (CEDA).

Chen Jinhua, Chairman of China Enterprise Confederation

Addressing the "Focusing East: Business and Sustainable Development in China and World Business Council Sustainable Development Liaison Delegates Meeting" held end of March, Chen said that the Chinese Government has made sustainable development a part of national strategy to boost socio-economic progress and also designated resource conservation and environment protection as basic national policy.

Economic globalization and ever-changing technologies have often brought with them increasingly negative impact.

Issues such as deterioration of natural resources and the eco-system, widening gap between the well-off and the poor, unemployment, and deficiency in social security have caused public concern and uncertainty among all countries, according to the chairman.

Consequently, sustainable development has become increasingly important on the international level.

As representative of the Chinese employer association, CEC, which is active in co-ordinating labour relations, is also committed to encouraging businesses to take social responsibility and pursuit of effective ways of corporate social responsibility (CSR) implementation.

CEC is the first Chinese organization to become a member of the Global Compact (GC). At the meeting on Chinese Entrepreneurs' Activity Day, the chairman called for Chinese businesses to actively participate in the activities of GC.

The companies recommended by CEC in the letter of commitment to the activities of GC all represent large group companies, with widespread presence in their sectors.

Many of these prominent players, like Sinopec, CNPC, Baosteel, Haier, COSCO, and China Railway have joined GC.

They have integrated the GC principle into their own development strategy, operational philosophy and corporate behaviour so as to fulfill corporate social responsibility.

"We are fully aware that all the efforts are just a start. The situation and mission in front of us presents long-term and arduous tasks," said the chairman. "The Chinese Government is now much clearer of the importance and the imperative option of sustainable development."

With the support of the Chinese Government, the China Business Council for Sustainable Development (CBCSD) was established in January 2004 through joint efforts of all council members and a number of well-known companies home and abroad as well as multinationals.

"To develop the economy while protecting the ecological environment and saving resource and energy becomes not only an issue cared about by the government, scientists and citizens but also important for China's business community," said Wang Jiming, executive chairman of CBCSD and vice-chairman of Sinopec Corp, at the meeting.

According to Wang, faced with the challenges and opportunities of sustainable development, CBCSD has been working hard since its establishment in the following areas:

Be active in developing membership

Since it was founded, CBCSD has taken active and stable steps in acquiring members, following the principle of fostering members among industry leaders first. Up to now, the council has 41 members and will have 50 by the end of the year.

To urge companies to shoulder social responsibility and organize all kinds of activities for its members

CBCSD has organized its members to participate in the forum of the "Sustainable Development- China and the World", which is sponsored by Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Under the theme of sustainable development, CBCSD members demonstrated their achievements and performance in sustainable development.

To organize a variety of forums and seminars

Through the "International Forum on Circular Economy and Corporate Development" sponsored by CBCSD, the council has promoted the development of circular economy featuring energy efficiency and circulation.

To intensify collaboration with WBCSD

The council exchanged senior level visits with World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) last year to push forward China's sustainable development.

To encourage co-operation among CBCSD members

To foster co-operation on sustainable development between Chinese and foreign companies.

"The fast, stable, healthy and co-ordinated development of the Chinese economy and all-round improvement of the Chinese society would not have been fully realized without the implementation of the sustainable development strategy," said Wang.

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