European Chamber Shanghai Chapter calls for stronger EU-China sustainability ties

The European Chamber Shanghai Chapter hosted its 9th annual Sustainable Business Awards Conference and Ceremony in Shanghai on Dec 11, underscoring the importance of environmental, social, and governance principles as long-term strategies rather than short-term compliance exercises.

This year's event reaffirmed the chamber's commitment to deepening EU-China collaboration on decarbonization, drawing on European companies' strengths in green technologies to support China's goals — peaking carbon emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060.

"EU-China collaboration on sustainability creates real opportunities for both sides, with European companies' decarbonization objectives aligning closely with China's ambitions," Carlo D'Andrea, vice-president of the European Chamber and chair of the Shanghai Chapter, said.

Steven Basart, general manager of the European Chamber Shanghai Chapter, emphasized the evolution of the SBA program.

"Over the years, the SBA has evolved from a simple awards initiative into a platform for dialogue where learning and collaboration are being shared," he said.

Basart noted that the awards are inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and China's long-term policies for rural revitalization, green development, and environmental protection.

This year's SBA recognized achievements across 11 categories, spanning efforts in biodiversity conservation, circularity and innovation, climate action, community excellence, decarbonization, diversity, equity, and inclusion, environmental governance, intelligent technology enablement, resilient supply chain and industry development, Sino-European sustainability collaboration, and talent empowerment.

Judge Stina Hinderson, head of the CSR Center at the Swedish embassy in Beijing, praised the chamber's rigorous evaluation framework, commenting on her experience evaluating applications in decarbonizing leadership and environmental governance.

"Across these areas, we have seen many innovative and impressive solutions both from multinational enterprises and small and medium enterprises, showing that all companies have a part to play," Hinderson said.

This year's awards drew a record high of 78 applications from 45 companies.

Luo Bin contributed to this story.