Touting social conscience in business
Print Edition
Business isn’t just about making money, and to highlight that point, the Xinzhuang Industry Park recently held a five-day Industry Culture Week with the accent on energy savings, environmental enrichment and corporate social responsibility.
The park, founded 18 years ago, is planning to build a low-carbon ecological zone called West Park. The two-square-kilometer site is the last development block in the park. The buildings in the new zone will wholly adhere to nationally set green standards, with a centralized energy supply utilizing recycling technologies. The zone will also feature extensive greenbelts.
Low-carbon strategy
“A low-carbon strategy fosters healthy production and living,” said German philosopher and sinologist Hans-Georg Moeller in his speech marking the opening of Industry Culture Week on October 28. “Xinzhuang Industry Park has asked enterprises inside its boundaries to set aside more space for greenery, which is a very responsible response in our modern society.”
The event was themed “Gain and Return: Low-carbon ecology in both production and lifestyle.” An opening forum attended by Moeller and other guest speakers was held in Shanghai Library and explored a range of social responsibilities that companies need to embrace.
Others in attendance included Wang Meng, a Chinese author and former minister of China’s Ministry of Culture; Bao Pengshan, a scholar and celebrity lecturer on the CCTV forum; and Quan Maoshen, general manager of Daikin Air Conditioner Co, which is based in the Xinzhuang Industry Park.
Caught between the need to expand industrial production and the need to reduce environmental damage, companies may find inspiration in Chinese philosophy, which stresses balance and harmony between man and nature.
“Rather than going back to the simple green life with no technological benefits, we are required to change our views of the world and our surroundings,” said Moeller. “Human beings are seeing more clearly the risk of overutilization and the transformation of our earth.”
Moeller was on a three-month academic visit to Minhang. He and others stressed the need for sustainable growth in industrial development.
The Industry Culture Week event included exhibits, open days for the public to visit companies and activities related to social responsibilities. It highlighted the evolution of the Xinzhuang Industry Park into its mature phase, according to Bi Hong, spokesman for the management committee of the park.
‘Green’ ideas
Daikin Air Conditioner, the Mankattan Food Co and other enterprises from the park displayed products at the Jindu Commercial Plaza, promoting “green” ideas and corporate culture.
The park is home to both businesses and residents. Fifty residents of the park received special invitations to visit companies and institutes in the park, including the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology.
“I have been living in the park for over 10 years, and this is the first time that I’ve had the chance to learn about these companies and have a close look on them,” said resident Zhou Saizhen.
Companies in the park stressed their corporate responsibilities by showing their commitment to local campaigns such as cleaning up waterways and promoting rubbish recycling.
“This event is also about how to ensure that residents of the park share in the fruits of its development,” Bi said. “Focusing on the idea of ‘low-carbon’ and ‘responsible care’ was a key point during culture week.”
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