COP28 Chinese Corporate Voices | Mengniu Group: Unleashing the power of enterprises to help achieve global sustainable development and climate goals

From November 30 to December 12, the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. During the meeting, Mengniu Group, as a representative of Chinese enterprises, was invited to participate in the "Dialogue on Sustainable Development of Well-known Chinese and Foreign Entrepreneurs" and the "Glacier Memory: Witnessing the Climate Crisis" theme side event to share the practical experience of China's dairy industry in promoting green, low-carbon and sustainable development, and tell the green story of China's dairy industry to the world. 

In order to actively respond to climate change and arouse public awareness of glacier awareness and protection, Mengniu, as one of the first partners, officially participated in the three-year "Glacier Memory: Global Visit" initiated by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment to actively explore solutions.

Innovate practices and open up new paths for carbon reduction

As an important part of the COP28 conference, Mengniu Group shared its case study on the topic of "Unleashing the Power of Enterprises to Help Achieve Global Sustainable Development and Climate Goals" at the side event of "Glacier Memory: Witnessing the Climate Crisis" held on December 3.

"Glaciers are a direct reflection of climate change and are known as indicators of climate change, which are causing glacier retreat to become increasingly severe. Xie Zhenhua, China's special envoy for climate change, said at the meeting that protecting glaciers and paying attention to climate change requires the participation of the whole society.

"Mengniu has always taken 'protecting the common health of mankind and the earth' as its sustainable development vision, and is committed to bringing nutrition and health to consumers, while attaching great importance to protecting the health of the earth's environment. Li Pengcheng, CEO of Mengniu Group, said in his speech that Mengniu has been trying to ecologically protect and reduce carbon emissions.

As the national team of China's dairy industry, Mengniu actively responds to the national "dual carbon" strategy, puts forward the strategic goal of "achieving carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050", and formulates 15 key measures through six links, including production, raw milk, packaging, transportation, products and carbon offsetting, to clarify the carbon reduction path, continue to promote green and low-carbon development in three stages, carry out systematic carbon reduction actions in all links of the whole industry chain, and actively respond to climate change globally.

According to the results of carbon screening, Mengniu Group's total carbon emissions, intensity and other indicators are at the leading level in the industry. In September this year, Mengniu's MSCI ESG rating was upgraded to "AA", the highest level in the industry, based on its excellent performance in ESG, and ranked among the ESG leaders of 77 participating companies in the world.

Collaborate with the ecology to create a green industrial chain

On December 1, on the occasion of the opening of the World Climate Action Summit, the "Sustainable Development Dialogue of Chinese and Foreign Famous Entrepreneurs", co-sponsored by the Publicity and Education Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and China News Network, was successfully held in the Green Zone of the COP28 venue.

"The issue of carbon neutrality must become the core issue of corporate sustainable development and business strategy. At the meeting, Li Pengcheng, CEO of Mengniu Group, used Mengniu's innovative practices as an example to explain how Chinese enterprises can collaborate upstream and downstream to build a sustainable industrial chain and help the world move towards carbon neutrality.

Li Pengcheng emphasized, "To promote carbon neutrality, we need to achieve it through scientific and technological innovation and digital intelligence. This year, Mengniu built the world's first fully intelligent dairy plant in Ningxia, China, realizing the "three 100s", that is, 100 people, 1 million tons of annual output, and 10 billion yuan of annual output value, reducing carbon emissions by 43%, leading the dairy industry to continue to move forward with "green and intelligent manufacturing". It is reported that Mengniu has built a total of 30 national green factories, has the first international and domestic dual-certified zero-carbon factories in China's dairy industry, and has achieved net-zero emissions through green building materials, clean energy, low-carbon raw materials and other means.

"To achieve carbon neutrality, we need to drive Scope 3 emission reductions and build a zero-carbon supply chain. Li Pengcheng said that Mengniu, as a leading enterprise in the industry, has begun to carry out Scope 3 carbon reduction, and its modern animal husbandry and China Shengmu have taken the lead in carrying out pasture carbon inventory and carbon reduction work. Mengniu has carried out pasture emission reduction through five major measures: adjusting the structure of feed ingredients, managing and optimizing the structure of the herd, optimizing the manure management mode, improving energy efficiency, and complementing animal husbandry and photovoltaic power generation, and achieved a reduction of 180,000 tons in 2022 alone.

During COP28, Mengniu also showcased the Bare Bottle products of Youyi C brand with reduced plastic and ink reduction. This year, the product has been awarded the SGS certified carbon emission reduction certificate and the ISEE Food Design of the Year Award. According to statistics, the use of environmentally friendly bottles can reduce carbon emissions by 46.62% per year. Looking to the future, Mengniu promises to achieve 100% environmentally friendly packaging research and development in technology by 2025, and strive to be the first in the industry to achieve low-carbon packaging covering the entire product line.

Hand in hand to contribute to China's green wisdom

"In the face of the severe situation of global warming, how to effectively reduce carbon emissions and actively respond to climate change has become a topic that the global dairy industry must answer. During the COP28 meeting, Li Pengcheng repeatedly emphasized the close relationship between the dairy industry and climate change.

It is reported that as early as 2017, Mengniu Group put forward the strategic concept of "Global Dairy Community" to contribute Chinese wisdom to the world. Over the years, Mengniu has further strengthened international exchanges and cooperation, actively shared Mengniu's innovative practices in the fields of green development and biodiversity conservation of the whole industry chain, and comprehensively enhanced the international influence and discourse power of China's dairy industry.

Mengniu Qujing Factory - China's dairy industry's first international and domestic dual-certified zero-carbon factory

At the same time, Mengniu has worked closely with the WEF Rainforest Alliance, the CGF Consumer Goods Forum's Forest Positive Efficiency Working Group, and the RSPO Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil to promote projects related to green supply chains. It is worth mentioning that Mengniu is the first Chinese dairy company to join the global "Dairy Net Zero" climate initiative jointly launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and others.

At this year's United Nations Climate Change Conference, Mengniu Group's "Energy Transformation of the Whole Dairy Industry Chain - Green Energy Application Project" was selected into the "2023 Corporate Climate Action Case Collection" released by the conference. Focusing on the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, the project promotes the construction of green energy supply microgrids, increases the amount of green energy used in the whole life cycle of dairy products, reduces fossil energy consumption, and demonstrates the green action power of Chinese enterprises.