Environmentalist finds ideal corporate match
Print Edition
FOR some people protecting the environment is a good idea that often leads to little action. For Zhang Yifei it is a profession.
The 38 year old brings a wide range of skills to his role as senior manager of environment sustainability with Coca-Cola China, having previously worked for Xinhua news agency and World Wide Fund for Nature.
“I took the Coca-Cola job about one year ago after I finished my overseas studies in public affairs,” Zhang says. “I was enticed largely by the position, since it is related to environmental protection. The past year has taught me how a commercial company can make a difference.”
Before joining Coca-Cola, Zhang says he spent most of his time outdoors on various projects. Now he makes sure to spend more time in meeting rooms, talking with government officials, scientists and suppliers to spread word about Coca-Cola’s efforts to be a green company.
Since Coca-Cola’s main ingredient for its beverages is water, Zhang and his department are mainly focused on water management and agriculture. At present, his department is working on more than 30 programs.
For example, Zhang now heads a pilot program on water protection in Sichuan Province to ensure farmhouses discharge cleaner water. To achieve that, Coca-Cola has introduced a natural solution, along with help from the World Wide Fund for Nature and various levels of government, that originated in the UK.
The idea is to construct small-scale wetlands beside rural teahouses, restaurants and hotels. This allows plants and a combination of biological, chemical and physical processes in the soil to remove pollutants from water.
The project, though still being tested, has received wide attention in China since agri-tourism now draws hordes of people to countryside farmhouses, which creates more pollution that usually goes untreated.
“When I see dirty water become clean, I feel proud and happy,” Zhang says. “Some projects require so much work, but the result is beyond measure.”
Another example is in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where sugar cane is grown to produce sugar, an indispensable ingredient in most Coca-Cola beverages. Traditional irrigation can be a huge waste of water and also produces pest control challenges. Coca-Cola funded a program to build pipes under and around the roots of sugarcane plants to provide water. Upon the success of the pilot program by UNDP and Coca-Cola, Guangxi local government has expanded the model to farmlands 100 times larger.
“Most of the time people are not harming the environment deliberately. They just need to know a better way,” Zhang says.
Zhang’s interest in environmental protection began in 1997, when he was hired by Xinhua and sent to Hunan Province as a reporter.
“When I first saw Dongting Lake, I was stunned by its beauty and found it to be a source of life,” Zhang says.
He recalls spending lots of time by the lake, covering stories about a team of guards tasked with catching bird hunters.
“This may explain my devotion to water protection,” Zhang says.
In the 2012-2013 Coca-Cola China Sustainability Report, the company pledged to return clean water resources equivalent to the amount used in its beverages and production back to nature by 2020. Zhang is expected to play an important role in this initiative.
“At Coca-Cola, I have learned to coordinate the power of different people and different organizations to get optimum results,” he says. “I find it so rewarding that we can make environmental protection a systematic and economic process.”
It reminds Zhang of the 8 years he worked for the World Wild Fund for Nature and a time when he recalls feeling frustrated at times.
He says he spent most of his time in the wild, largely working on his own. The manager says a lack of resources, both personnel and funds, prevented the organization from accomplishing more. He doesn’t need to worry about that at Coca-Cola.
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