Guangming Daily | Industry Discussion on Strengthening Water Environment Governance and Promoting Sustainable Development ​

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the United Nations introducing the concept of ESG (Environment, Society and Governance). On June 12th, China Water Environment Group released its first ESG Sustainable Development Report at the Investment and Technology Promotion Office of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (Beijing). Experts, scholars, international organizations, industry representatives, and others conducted in-depth discussions on the issue of sustainable water resources.

The report covers the sustainable development goals and specific practical achievements of enterprises in three dimensions: ecological path, social impact, and corporate governance. It conveys the corporate mission of "guarding the source of life and promoting green development", promoting development through innovation, establishing a participant ecosystem, and continuously supporting the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Xu Ming, Vice Dean of the School of Environment at Tsinghua University, stated in his speech "ESG in the AI Era" that multiple United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are directly related and of great significance to the water treatment industry. Technological innovation is the core driving force for enterprises to fulfill their social responsibilities and improve their data governance level. The School of Environment at Tsinghua University has also collaborated with the group to develop a practical application oriented intelligent operation and maintenance assistant for water plants, "Tiangong China Water Environment", in the field of general artificial intelligence. This will jointly help build a beautiful digital governance system in China and build a green and intelligent digital ecological civilization.

Liu Gang, a researcher of the Ecological Environment Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in his speech that safe and clean water is the source of life, and sewage treatment is crucial to global sustainable development. Chinese enterprises, including the Water Environment Group, have made positive contributions in the field of sewage treatment and aquatic biosafety. In particular, in the face of the problems of decentralized sewage collection and treatment in central cities and rural areas, the distributed sunken reclaimed water system can provide effective solutions for local reuse and hydropower, material and information integration, and provide a Chinese model for international water environment treatment.

Wu Yabin, Director of the Investment and Technology Promotion Office of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (Beijing, China), stated that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the introduction of the ESG concept by the United Nations. Practicing ESG and sustainable development goals provides a "direction map" for enterprise development, and we believe that industry leaders will continue to provide important support for achieving the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Hou Feng, Chairman of China Water Environment Group, stated that sustainable development ESG is a social responsibility that enterprises must fulfill to become century old stores. Over the past decade, through innovative practices of distributed sinking and regeneration water systems, the group has contributed over 6.5 billion tons of water resources to the world, created over 1.56 million square meters of land for cities, added over 900000 square meters of green parks, and significantly reduced pollutants, reducing chemical oxygen demand by 960000 tons, total nitrogen by 160000 tons, and total phosphorus by over 20000 tons. The group has contributed to protecting the ecological environment and addressing global climate challenges.