Companies of Chinese Electrical and Electronics Sector enter into Strategic Cooperation with Project
On the occasion of the National Launch Event on 2nd September 2011 a number of enterprises of the electrical and electronics industry in China participated in a declaration ceremony during the event’s concluding session. The Chinese companies jointly agreed to comply with a declaration expressing their support for environmental impact reductions and the Conformity Model - one of the project’s key documents. The ceremony included a declaration announcement and joint agreement by the enterprises followed by a questions and answers session.
Using this opportunity, the Conformity Model was presented to project stakeholders and relevant public authorities as a fundamental tool for the project ’s assessment and voluntary auditing programme. Based on their accomplishments in implementing suggested measures for upgrading their environmental and safety performance, SMEs that participate in the project can reach four levels of compliance, each corresponding to a detailed set of indicators and targets, from basic to proactive. The Conformity Model and its awarding scale will also serve as a basis for ultimately granting Conformity Awards to high achieving SMEs during the final stages of the project.
The joint declaration at the National Launch Event was supported by renowned enterprises of the electrical and electronics industry in China such as Changhong, Hisense, TCL and Lenovo with a view to enhance the sustainable development of their supply chains. These large enterprises support the declaration with the aim to jointly promote the project’s training materials at their companies and suppliers. Over the past two and a half years, they have already joined a number of activities organized by the SWITCH-Asia project including Pilot Trainings and Assessments as well as Regional Launch Events. As a result, the key industry players will now start to systematically train their suppliers through the project’s SME training workshops.
By agreeing to comply with the joint declaration, the companies will take the following actions:
Implementation of measures for controlling industrial contamination and supporting ecological product life cycle (PLC) management from green design to material recycling and reuse;
Active participation in the project’s PLC assessment in order to undertake responsibility along the entire PLC;
Establishment of a green industry chain through environmental friendly measures and compliance with relevant laws, regulations and standards.
The declaration ceremony represents a milestone towards the project’s objective of implementing sustainable production measures in more than 500 Chinese SMEs of the electrical and electronics sector. The opportunity to expand the project outreach to a wider pool of SMEs through the supply chain of large domestic industry players can be formalized by the official joint declaration of support to the Conformity Model. All companies participating in the declaration ceremony will enter into a strategic cooperation with the SWITCH-Asia project and receive training support throughout the remaining project cycle.
