In the latest episode of the Emerging Markets Today podcast, Ana Paula Picasso interviewed John Pabon, a sustainability consultant, speaker, and author of the book “Sustainability for the Rest of Us.” They talked about China and what sustainability means for China and beyond. Here are the main insights from the conversation:
China has the world’s largest population and the second-biggest economy after the United States of America. When you think about China, sustainability is the last thing that comes to mind. The West and the rest of the world have this distorted idea of how China is tackling environmental and social problems.
China has made great strides toward sustainability over the last 10 years. A change in governance moved China from being the world’s factory to a service provider through sustainability.
When it comes to sustainability, the West uses the traditional approach of research and development, which can take several years because their goal is to achieve perfection when the product or service is launched. China, on the other hand, uses a more direct approach that can be described as “trying everything and seeing what works.”
“Every hour, seven new SKUs are launched in China…”The idea is you put it on the shelf, and if somebody buys it, they must like it; that’s your market research.” , John Pabon explained.
The world believes that China is the “bad guy” in sustainability, and it’s tough to change people’s minds. People on the inside are more open-minded because they can see the changes firsthand; it is, however, hard to convince the outside audience due to preconceived notions or images they have of China. The country is still very far from perfect, but they are making great strides toward sustainability. The truth is that sustainability is not a snap of a finger thing; it is not going to happen overnight; it is a process that takes a while.
Greenwashing is a concept that comes up a lot in sustainability, and this is when companies spend more money to appear sustainable than actually doing it. This can occur in two ways: intentionally and accidentally. Purposeful greenwashing happens when companies spend more money on marketing to appear as sustainable brands than actually doing it.
Accidental greenwashing is happening more in China due to the government’s push for companies to go green. Therefore, companies are trying to do the right thing in their sustainability journey, but by doing so, they are only showing the tip of the iceberg.
What sustainability really means
“It is important to remember that sustainability doesn’t just mean hugging the trees and saving the polar bears; there is an environmental side of things that is important, the ESG.” – John Pabon.
ESG is an umbrella term that is divided into three parts. Environmental has to do with an organisation’s impact on the environment. Social is anything that deals with human rights, labour, and charities. Governance refers to the operational level of these organisations and how they are monitored in terms of transparency.
The social side is key to the sustainability movement. Assisting companies like Walmart, HP, and Dell in doing amazing things on the social and labour fronts.developing programs that help fill in the knowledge gap in areas such as communication, the job, and personal health and wellness. These programs helped reduce absenteeism for health reasons, improved mental health, and also increased productivity, and this is where the company makes profits.
“It doesn’t have to be downsizing businesses and moving to a farm; that is unrealistic.””How do we help the private sector fix the problem they caused by supporting them in a lot of these social and environmental endeavours that they have?” added Pabon.
John Pabon is a sustainability consultant, speaker, and author of the book Sustainability for the Rest of Us. The book is about practical ways people can make an impact, not crazy things like not travelling, throwing tomato soup at paintings, and supergluing faces on streets. Another book, The Great Greenwashing, is coming out early next year.
Main photo: Waste collection in Shangai By WQL - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=80449687
