Greenpeace East Asia has ranked China’s largest e-commerce platforms based on their commitment to combating climate change, actions already taken, level of disclosure and steps taken to manage the marketplaces responsibly and sustainably. According to the climate activist group, Hangzhou-based e-commerce platform Alibaba, which last December pledged to become carbon neutral by 2030 and announced plans to reduce carbon emissions across its digital ecosystem by 1.5 gigatons by 2035, has taken the lead among China’s e-com competitors, which also include JD.com, Pinduoduo, Vipshop, Suning.com, NetEase and Xiaomi.
In its report “China’s E-commerce Platform Companies Current Status on Climate Responsiveness, 2021” (English research briefing available for direct PDF download here), Greenpeace noted that Alibaba is the only company that has set a date for achieving climate neutrality for its group-wide operations. It also said Alibaba has made climate action a priority at the corporate level and has adopted a carbon neutrality plan that is “comprehensive” compared to the contributions of its peer group. Greenpeace also acknowledged that the e-com giant considers environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria and has established a board-level sustainability committee.
The second place in the ranking went to JD.com thanks to the climate protection commitment of its subsidiary JD Logistics and the measures taken so far. Overall, Greenpeace found that JD.com’s response to climate change is limited, and the company has not fully committed to a low-carbon transition across all of the group’s business units.
JD.com was beaten by Alibaba primarily due to its recent new commitments. However, it should be noted that Alibaba is only committed to carbon neutrality in its own operations (Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions). For Scope 3 emissions in its value chain, the company has only set a weak target of reducing carbon intensity by half. Alibaba coined the term “Scope 3+” to refer to emissions from participants in its online platforms but has yet to outline a clear path to reduce emissions in this area. Scope 3 emissions typically account for most of all emissions from all three areas.
The Greenpeace methodology examines whether the companies’ commitments cover the totality of their activities that have both upstream and downstream relevance and impact. The report found that none of the seven e-com companies have environmental standards for third-party sellers. Their online marketplaces are potentially open to rampant sales of products that harm the environment, including products containing hazardous chemicals or involving illegal wildlife trade. Greenpeace has called on all brands to close this loophole as soon as possible.
The full Greenpeace report is only available (direct PDF download) in Chinese.
