The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development covers 17 goals, the eighth of which is "decent work and economic growth", namely: Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all. 

Under this major goal, there are twelve targets, the fourth of which is "Improve progressively, through 2030, global resource efficiency in consumption and production and endeavour to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, in accordance with the 10-year framework of programmes on sustainable consumption and production, with developed countries taking the lead".

● Current Situation

About the World

"Development Before Governance" Not Feasible

The United Nations Global Sustainable Development Report 2019 points out that, globally, it is no longer a feasible choice to create economic growth by increasing the consumption of material products alone, and the model of "development before governance" is not feasible any longer. The forecast shows that from 2017 to 2060, global consumption will almost double, from the current 89 billion tons to 167 billion tons, and greenhouse gas emissions, mining and other pollution will also increase accordingly.

Photo source: ifeng.com

Human beings have developed in the same model for millions of years, which has brought prosperity to mankind, but meanwhile, it has also caused persistent poverty and many other social problems, such as unprecedented inequality undermining innovation, social integration and sustainable economic growth. It has also brought the world to the dangerous critical point of the global climate system and the loss of biodiversity. In order to change this situation and achieve the sustainable development goals, it is fundamentally necessary to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, while reducing social and gender inequalities in wealth, income and access.

Text source: Global Sustainable Development Report 2019

About China

Resource Exploitation and Ecological Environment Under Great Pressure

Since the reform and opening up, China's economy and society have developed rapidly with living standards improved and per capita resource consumption increased significantly along with environmental pressure. As China's industrialization developed dramatically with population entering the process of modernization unprecedented, the rapid increase of per capita resource consumption and the huge population have superimposed, resulting in China leading the growth of global resource consumption since the 21st century.

Although China has continued to improve resource and energy efficiency, resource exploitation and ecological environment are still facing great pressure due to the long-term economic growth of about 10% in the early stage, which greatly exceeds the improvement rate of resource and energy productivity in the same period, coupled with the highly export-oriented economic development model and the requirements of maintaining a relatively high resource self-sufficiency. This is an important challenge facing China's economic and social development, and there is an urgent need to take effective measures to solve it.

Text and photo source: Chinado.cn

●  Cases

About the World

IKEA Green Logistics

There is a lot of energy consumption and waste in in traditional logistics, causing great pollution and damages to the environment and increasing demand of roads. The Swedish brand IKEA's green logistics management system is mainly based on environmental protection and resource conservation, including the green forward logistics links and reverse logistics system in the supply chain. The key of green logistics is transportation and storage, as these two links produce a lot of greenhouse gases, which can be greatly optimized.

Photo source: baidu.com

IKEA has basically set up distribution centers and central warehouses all over the world in major transportation roads and distribution towns for logistics. One of IKEA's most famous features is its flat packaging strategy. Whether it is storage or transportation, the use of flat packaging can reduce the damage rate of furniture in the process of storage and transportation and occupy the space of the warehouse. More importantly, flat packaging greatly reduces the transportation cost of products, further reduces the product price, and makes IKEA's worldwide production layout a reality.

Text source: biying.com

EU for Product Recycling and Carbon Neutralization

In December 2019, the new European Commission issued the European Green Agreement, which proposed to take the lead in achieving carbon neutrality worldwide by 2050, sending a strong signal of green and low-carbon transformation and attracting great attention all over the world. In order to achieve the strategic goal of carbon neutrality, the EU will implement a series of actions, including building a clean and recycling industrial system.

Photo source: baidu.com

The EU's industrial sector accounts for 20% of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions. Product manufacturing mainly depends on the consumption of new materials, and the recycled resources account for only 12%. The EU has made a new industrial development strategy to meet the dual challenges of greening and digitization and promote inclusive growth. Meanwhile, the EU has implemented a new circular economy action plan, seized the development opportunities of circular economy domestica and abroad, promoted the modernization of the EU economy, implemented the sustainable product initiative, focused on resource intensive industries such as textiles, construction, electronics and plastics, and accelerated the promotion of energy intensive industrial sectors to achieve product recycling and carbon neutrality.

Text source: Chinado.cn

About China

Huawei Explores Use of Environmental Friendly Materials

Huawei has been committed to integrating concept of sustainable development into the whole life cycle of product development, actively controlling the use of harmful substances, constantly exploring in product design and continuously promoting energy-saving design. Facing the future evolution of network technology and architecture, the company developed research innovative solutions for energy conservation, improved product energy efficiency, reduced carbon emissions for energy conservation and emission reduction in various industries.

In terms of sustainable production, Huawei has used bio organic plastics in mobile phone products since 2013. Its raw materials are obtained from plants and do not need to consume the non renewable resource oil used in the production of traditional plastics. Therefore, it can not only reduce pollution and damage to the environment, but also protect the non renewable resources of the earth to a great extent. In 2018, Huawei continued to expand the application of bio based materials. The castor oil content in all bio based plastics exceeded 30%, and its carbon dioxide emission was reduced by about 62.6%. In 2018, Huawei's total use of bio based plastics reduced carbon dioxide emissions by about 612 tons compared with traditional petroleum based plastics.

Text and photo source: huawei.com

Decoupling Agricultural Economic Erowth and Environmental Degradation

Under the background of rising demand for agricultural products and uncertainty of the international trade environment, China will increasingly need to improve sustainability of its agricultural production capacity, which is of great significance to achieve the goal of sustainable development on a global scale.

Photo source: baidu.com

By using green production technologies and materials, China reduces chemical inputs, makes economical and efficient use of natural resources, and reduces agricultural waste, so as to increase production without increasing pollution and carbon. It is to improve green origin and high-quality products. The quality of environmental factors of origin such as water quality, soil, air and ecosystem have been significantly improved, so does the quality of agricultural products. Through  It will get a market premium in the market through improving market and advocating green consumption, green and high-quality agricultural products.

Text source: gmw.cn

●  Background

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Initiated by the United Nations

On 1 January, 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including 169 targets, of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at an historic UN Summit — officially came into force. Countries will mobilize efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind.