The Institute for Sustainable Communities' Greening the Supply Chain initiative will build a strong environment, health, and safety field in China, and help the country transition to a low-carbon economy.
Phase 1: September 2009 - December 2010
- Launch a successful EHS Academy in Guangzhou Province in September 2009.
- Establish a second EHS Academy in Jiangsu Province (possibly in Shanghai) in 2010, with the GE Foundation as lead funder.
- Train 1,200 managers at the EHS Academies, creating an influential cadre of EHS practitioners. (Note: When fully operational, the academies are expected to train some 4,000 managers per year.)
- Secure the assistance of at least 15 multinational corporations who will recommend or require that their suppliers attend.
- Advise the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in the development of a new EHS certification protocol that incorporates clean energy and GHG standards (providing a major incentive for enterprises to send their managers to the academy).
- Develop climate action courses that give managers the capacity to achieve, measure, and demonstrate significant energy and GHG reductions, including the knowledge of incentives and financing that support meaningful, large-scale, and sustained implementation.
Phase 2: January 2011-August 2012
- Train 2,800 managers at the two EHS Academies and possible satellite locations.
- Institutionalize GHG measurement and reduction as a core responsibility of the emerging EHS profession, legitimizing action on climate by linking it to community, health, and environmental issues.
- Work with authorities to tie GHG measurement to the Chinese government's energy efficiency mandates and relevant targets in order to increase awareness and commitment among enterprise managers to address climate issues.
- Introduce rigorous and consistent GHG accounting tools and standards and reliable data in order to create a foundation for securing financing for clean and renewable energy investments.
- Gather data on energy intensity and GHG reductions resulting from improvements that trained EHS managers implemented at their factories.
Since 2007, the Institute for Sustainable Communities has been strengthening the capacity of Chinese nonprofits, businesses, agencies, and communities to improve environmental health conditions, boost resource efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In China, as in many emerging markets that make up the world's supply chain, the push for growth has outpaced the capacity to safeguard the environment and protect worker health and safety. Worsening air and water pollution and high rates of respiratory illness threaten to compromise the quality of life.
The Chinese government has strengthened environment, health and safety policy as well as set ambitious targets for energy use and intensity. However, compliance with EHS regulations lags, and reaching those targets continues to be a major challenge.
Meanwhile, multinational corporations seek to boost their suppliers' compliance with environment, health, and safety standards, and, increasingly, to reduce their carbon footprint by greening the supply chain. As a result, they are looking for solutions that go beyond auditing their suppliers to build the capacity of Chinese enterprises to embrace international best practices.
ISC and its corporate partners concluded that, in the absence of EHS champions who have both the management and leadership skills to identify and systematically address EHS priorities--including energy efficiency enhancements and pollution reduction--manufacturers will continue to lack the capacity to achieve meaningful reductions in harmful emissions.
In order to encourage the development of a professional field of EHS management within China, ISC will soon launch a state-of-the-art training center based at Sun Yat-sen University's Lingnan College, a respected business management school. The Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) Academy was created with the support of corporate partners, including GE, Wal-mart, Citigroup, Honeywell, and Adidas. It will serve as a reliable source of high-quality, professional managers equipped with the technical and management skills to serve as champions for EHS interventions and improvements in their companies.
ISC chose Guangdong province as the site of the first EHS Academy for its strategic importance. One of the most industrial of China's 30 provinces, it accounts for more than 12% of the country's GDP and its largest share of exports. Conservative estimates placed the province's carbon emissions at 548.12 million metric tons of CO2 in 2007.
In order to serve enterprises in another major industrial region, the central north of China, this commitment will establish another Chinese-owned and operated training center in Jiangsu Province or in neighboring Shanghai.
SEEKING: financial assistance, implementing partners, best practice information.
ISC is seeking partners among multinational and Chinese corporations that will commit to sending their factory managers to the EHS Academies. Courses are often customized to fit company or industry needs.
ISC is always open to exploring partnerships with new funding partners looking to improve EHS standards throughout their supply chain and reduce GHG emissions.
OFFERING: best practice information.
ISC offers assistance to those interested in building in-country capacity for compliance with environment, health and safety regulations and standards, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
ISC offers customized training courses on EHS management, energy efficiency and GHG reduction to multinational and Chinese companies.
