Under the 'double carbon' goal, how do Internet giants promote green consumption on 'Double Eleven'?

The annual "Double Eleven" shopping festival is in full swing. With the continuous implementation of measures to promote the consumption of green and energy-saving home appliances in various places, the concept of green and low-carbon consumption has become one of the main themes of this year's "Double Eleven".

In 2020, China proposed the goals of "achieving carbon peak by 2030" and "achieving carbon neutrality by 2060", and sustainable development has been elevated to a strategic level. In response to the "dual carbon" goal, domestic leading e-commerce companies have successively announced carbon reduction plans and adopted multiple measures to promote "decarbonization".

In this context, how to achieve carbon reduction during the "Double Eleven" this year has attracted the attention of enterprises, governments and other sectors of society. The bureau has noticed that leading e-commerce companies mainly promote "green" products that meet the standard, and design incentive mechanisms to attract consumers to participate in carbon reduction actions. Consumers actively participate in recycling.

Some experts believe that the current promotion of green consumption faces many difficulties, such as the lack of unified identification standards for green products, the insufficient supply of green products on the market, the lack of richness, and the inability to meet the diverse needs of consumers. Experts suggest unifying standards and introducing concise certification guidelines to help consumers identify green products. At the same time, green education is introduced in the primary and secondary education stage to enhance environmental awareness and green consumption knowledge as soon as possible.

On November 11, at the center of Zhengzhou Postal Area, Henan Province, China Post Group Co., Ltd., staff were sorting express parcels. In response to the "Double Eleven" logistics peak, many logistics companies have increased human input, and staff have stepped up the sorting, loading and distribution of various commodities to ensure the timely delivery of express items. Xinhua News Agency

"Double Eleven" carbon emissions increase, where is the difficulty in recycling cartons?

In line with the trend of carbon neutrality, e-commerce platforms have accelerated the pace of carbon reduction, and successively released corporate carbon reduction plans: Alibaba promised to achieve carbon neutrality in its own operations no later than 2030, while JD Logistics said it would reduce total carbon emissions by 2030 50%. Suning Tesco proposed that by 2030, new energy electric vehicles will account for 70% of the newly purchased intra-city delivery vehicles.

In order to achieve the goal, many companies have resorted to new energy. Alibaba said that it will use renewable energy to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions from office buildings and transportation; JD Logistics will apply new energy to transportation across the country. car. At the same time, both companies will install distributed photovoltaics in eligible workplaces and vigorously promote renewable energy such as solar energy.

The e-commerce platform located in the second echelon of carbon reduction actions, although it has not released a carbon reduction plan, will disclose the carbon reduction effect in relevant corporate reports. Vipshop will change its energy structure from 2020, and the proportion of electricity consumption from renewable energy will reach 45%. However, some e-commerce platforms have not released any relevant information on carbon emissions so far.

In the context of the "Double Carbon" strategy, the issue of carbon emissions from "Double Eleven" has attracted much attention. Data released by the State Post Bureau shows that in 2021, the national express delivery business volume will complete 108.3 billion pieces, exceeding 100 billion pieces for the first time. On November 1 alone, a total of 569 million express parcels were received nationwide.

With the increase in business volume, there is the issue of carbon emissions during the disposal of express packaging materials. Taking the data of 2018 as an example, a total of 9.41 million tons of express packaging materials were consumed nationwide, and the production, use and disposal of express packaging materials In the process, a total of 13.03 million tons of carbon emissions were generated, and about 710 million trees were required to be neutralized.

On the occasion of "11.11" in 2022, three departments including the Environmental and Resources Department of the National Development and Reform Commission held a work symposium to study and deploy the e-commerce express delivery field during the "Double Eleven" period to strengthen the governance of plastic pollution and excessive packaging. Relevant personnel from e-commerce companies such as Alibaba and JD.com, as well as express delivery companies such as China Post and SF Express, also participated in the meeting. The meeting required e-commerce companies to strengthen the management of settled merchants, avoid the sale of over-packaged goods, and promote the original direct delivery of e-commerce express mail.

In order to promote the recycling of packaging, this year's "Double Eleven", Cainiao promoted nearly 100,000 Cainiao stations across the country to upgrade the "return box plan". From November 1st to 20th, consumers can collect carbon energy in the "Green Home" of the Cainiao APP after leaving the express package after picking up the package at the Cainiao Station. These energy can be exchanged for physical rights such as eggs. It is understood that it is estimated that 6 million express packages can be recycled during the event. JD Logistics has pledged to reduce carbon emissions by 200,000 tons during the "Double Eleven" event, and will continue to introduce carbon reduction measures such as reduced-volume packaging and direct-delivery packaging from the original factory. At the same time, continue to carry out the activities of carton recycling and recycling.

However, insiders say that the recycling cycle of cartons faces many difficulties. First of all, consumers' awareness of participating in the recycling cycle needs to be improved. Many people do not sign for express delivery in person. They either let the courier leave it at the door of their home, or go to the express cabinet to pick it up. It is difficult to actively participate in the recycling process. The second is the cost of enterprise recycling. If the courier is responsible for recycling cartons, it will lead to a decrease in work efficiency and affect the daily operation of the enterprise. Finally, there is the standardization of cartons. The specifications of cartons used in many express delivery industries are different. As a result, the recycled cartons can only be circulated within the enterprise, and it is difficult to circulate in the entire industry.

The above-mentioned industry insiders said that in order to break the deadlock, it is first necessary to formulate production standards for cartons, unify the specifications and appearance of cartons, cancel the layout customization of cartons, and allow cartons to circulate throughout the industry. Secondly, build a consumer-oriented points system, and use points to exchange gifts to encourage consumers to participate in recycling. The last and most important point is to build a feasible end-to-end recycling network, such as setting up recycling points in communities and office buildings to provide recycling management services for circular packaging. This is the biggest difficulty in realizing the large-scale promotion of circular packaging in the industry.

On November 11, in a smart e-commerce industrial park in Changsha City, Hunan Province, staff were sorting express delivery. With the arrival of the peak online shopping period of "Double Eleven", large and small packages are "running" on the staggered and fast-moving conveyor belts. Xinhua News Agency

E-commerce platforms should guide green consumption, and consumers need to consume rationally

The "Double Eleven" deployment work symposium held by the three departments recently clarified the relevant responsibilities of e-commerce express delivery companies, and proposed that companies should guide consumers to green consumption.

Michael Spencer, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001 and academic committee member of Luohantang, believes that digital platforms will help reduce carbon in many aspects. It can also subtly promote people's low-carbon consumption.

In 2021 "Double Eleven", Tmall will launch a green venue for the first time, with 500,000 new green products. Data shows that more than 2.5 million people bought green goods during Double 11. The relevant survey report of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows that the "green consumers" accounted for about 160 million annual active population of Tao-based (Tao-based e-commerce) in that year, of which nearly 60% were under the age of 35, and "generation Z" and "urban" White-collar workers are the main force among them. Green consumption has become the choice trend of the new generation of consumers.

Liu Feng, chief economist of China Galaxy Securities Co., Ltd., said that over the years, with the enhancement of environmental protection awareness, more and more consumers have realized the importance of green consumption to personal health and living environment, and are more inclined to buy Environmentally friendly green organic food, also pay attention to new energy vehicles when buying a car. He said that consumers' demand for green products is the driving force for enterprises to produce green products and provide green services.

This year's "Double Eleven", Tmall and JD.com have launched "green" marked products. Tmall upgraded the green venue opened last year to increase the number and categories of green and low-carbon marked products. In the same year, on June 18, JD.com launched the “Green Plan” to select green products, and the number of green products increased to more than 3 million. Suning.com, on the other hand, has teamed up with many governments and leading brand manufacturers to issue multiple subsidies of "government, enterprise and factory silver" to consumers who purchase green home appliances such as first-class energy-efficient home appliances.

In order to enhance the interaction between consumers and the platform and increase the participation in carbon reduction, e-commerce platforms mostly adopt the form of issuing carbon reduction consumption coupons or redeeming points, and design a reward mechanism that covers the needs of consumers of all ages. Consumers can choose to exchange points for physical items, or they can choose non-physical rewards to meet their spiritual needs. For example, consumers on Tmall can choose to exchange photovoltaic panels to donate to rural primary schools. These photovoltaic panels installed on the roof can generate more than 60,000 kWh of electricity per year after completion, can work for 25 years, and are expected to reduce carbon emissions by 296,000 tons per year.

What are the current challenges in promoting green consumption? Liu Feng, chief economist of China Galaxy Securities, pointed out that in fact, shopping festivals such as "Double Eleven" are essentially to increase profits by stimulating consumption desire, and the values ​​behind them are in conflict with the green consumption concept that advocates environmental protection and energy saving. Therefore, consumers need to keep a clear head, maintain rational consumption according to their own needs, and avoid excessive consumption.

Liu Feng also said that at present, the supply of existing green products in the market is insufficient, the categories are not rich enough, and the prices of some green products are too high, which cannot meet the diversified needs of consumers for green products. At the same time, due to the lack of unified standards and a simple and clear green product certification system, consumers cannot distinguish which products belong to green products, and consumers' green consumption concept cannot be cultivated.

Liu Feng suggested that the government should establish green product standards, strengthen the labeling management of green products, and issue concise guidelines to help consumers better identify and screen green products. At the same time, green education should be implemented in primary and secondary education to improve environmental awareness and knowledge of green consumption.

In the distribution center of a courier company in Lieshan District, Huaibei City, Anhui Province, staff are busy in the sorting workshop. Xinhua News Agency

Carbon reduction requires the joint participation of upstream and downstream of the supply chain, and e-commerce platforms should assume the responsibility of promoting

Achieving carbon reduction in various links such as retail and logistics requires the participation of upstream and downstream enterprises in the supply chain, and a consensus has been formed in all circles. The "Double Eleven" work symposium held by the three departments recently also mentioned that relevant enterprises should actively innovate governance models, strengthen cooperation with upstream and downstream enterprises, and actively build a social brand of corporate green governance.

During the "Double Eleven" period this year, thousands of merchants and 150,000 kinds of commodities have joined the Cainiao supply chain. Cainiao and 18 brands have jointly explored carbon reduction paths covering the upstream and downstream of the supply chain. JD Logistics will also invest more resources to support co-branders in launching the Green Supply Chain Action "Qingliu Plan" in 2017.

Duan Yanjian, the project leader of the Qingliu Plan, took the original factory straight hair packaging as an example to illustrate the importance of the joint participation of platforms and enterprises. He introduced that JD Logistics promotes brand owners to use original direct-delivery packaging in the delivery process. The product packaging is express packaging with strong pressure resistance, which can meet the protection of goods during the entire transportation process from the factory to the delivery to consumers. By eliminating the secondary packaging in the logistics process and reducing the volume of the package, the carbon emissions of the entire transportation process will also be reduced. For some brand owners, doing so not only reduces carbon, but also replaces higher-cost gift box packaging and reduces packaging costs.

However, Duan Yanjian also admitted that most of the leading companies are currently developing the original direct hair packaging, and the willingness of small companies is not so strong, because switching to this type of packaging means that companies need to change their internal production lines and need to invest more in the early stage. funds. Therefore, in the future, the "Qingliu Plan" needs to promote more companies to participate in the research and development of original direct hair packaging.

According to data from BCG's "From Concept to Practice: Efficient Management Guidelines for E-commerce Platforms to Promote Merchant Carbon Reduction", the total carbon emissions of Chinese retail e-commerce platforms and merchants ranks 18th in the world, which is approximately equal to the carbon emissions of the UK in one year. . BCG suggested that, given the strong influence of e-commerce platforms on cooperative merchants, the platform should assume the responsibility of promoting the carbon reduction of cooperative merchants.

Written by: Southern Metropolis reporter Guo Ruomei intern Wang Wei from Beijing