2023 marks the halfway point on the world’s journey towards achieving the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). On February 23, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) held the closing ceremony for the Climate Ambition Accelerator (CAA) Programme and the Target Gender Equality (TGE) Accelerator Programme in Shanghai, attended by Mr. Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in China, Ms. Liu Meng, Head of Asia Pacific Networks of the UNGC, and dozens of senior representatives from leading Chinese and international enterprises.

Mr. Zhao Xin, Vice President of Yili Group, participated in the high-level dialogue and shared how Yili’s carbon neutrality progress had picked up pace owing to the CAA Programme’s support. By the end of 2022, 31 Yili factories had been certified as state-level “green factories,” ranking the food producer No. 1 in the industry.

In early 2022, the UNGC published the Chinese version of the Net-Zero Standard by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and launched the CAA programme in China for the first time. Yili was among the first participants in the six-month programme. With the UNGC’s support in action-oriented capacity building in the climate field, Yili has taken new steps in its efforts to systematically and effectively implement the carbon neutrality goal and Paris Agreement, setting science-based emission reduction targets in line with a 1.5°C pathway to ensure the achievement of the ambitious goal of net-zero carbon emissions.

The CAA programme has accelerated Yili’s progress towards realizing net-zero goals. In 2022, Yili launched its Plan for a Net-Zero Carbon Future and Roadmap to a Net-Zero Carbon Future, announcing that it will achieve carbon neutrality across its industrial chain by 2050. To date, Yili has successfully submitted its science-based target commitment (SBTi) and acquired the first Green Electricity Certificate in the country that is recognized in both electricity and carbon markets. It has launched five net-zero carbon products and five net-zero carbon factories, launched the first Net-Zero Carbon Alliance in the industry, and had 31 factories certified as state-level “green factories.”

Its leading practices in carbon management have also secured Yili strong recognition from UN agencies. In July 2021, the UNGC released the Corporate Net Zero Pathway, the world’s first report published by a UN agency to provide comprehensive guidance to companies on achieving carbon neutrality, which selected Yili as the representative corporate deep-dive case study for the agriculture and food sector.

In the next strategic cycle, following the successful completion of the ACC programme, Yili will lead all players, upstream and downstream in the industry chain, in carrying out the full life-cycle actions in carbon reduction needed to proactively practice a green and sustainable philosophy and accelerate progress towards a net-zero future.