China, Sweden deepen collaboration to promote real estate safety
People's Daily Online
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Photo: White Peak 

China and Sweden vowed to co-create a sustainable world, to provide prosperity, health, safety, and opportunities for future generations, said representative from Swedish Embassy in China at a forum highlighting bilateral collaborations in Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) and workplace safety in real estate sector in Yantai, East China’s Shandong Province, on Tuesday. 

China’s development remains strong and consistent, with urbanization in its second, third and fourth tier cities continuing at a rapid pace, and its ncreasing emphasis on the value of ESG is reflected in the market as local governments seek well-governed and sustainable companies for partnerships. Sweden, a leader in ESG, and China, one of the fastest-urbanizing countries in the world, are working together to adapt Swedish ESG best practices for China.

The Hammarby Eco City of White Peak, the largest European residential developer in China, is bringing the vision of sustainable urban development to reality. The Eco City is inspired by Hammarby Sjöstad, a smart eco-city and a global model for urban redevelopment in Stockholm, Sweden. Like Hammarby Sjöstad, the Eco City is redeveloping a former industrial area into a green, innovative, digital, and healthy community, complete with around 2,000 homes, an ice hockey arena, as well as retail facilities. 

“The Hammarby Eco City is our first Eco City project in China. Upon its completion, it will be Yantai’s sustainability centerpiece with green and digital systems integrated throughout the Eco City,” said Jesper Jos Olsson, White Peak Group CEO and Founding Partner. “We are proud that while still under construction, the Eco City has already obtained the ‘Very Good’ rating from BREEAM, the world’s longest-established method of benchmark rating for buildings’ sustainability.”

As Chinese cities continue on the path of urbanization and the pursuit of high-quality growth, they are tackling the challenges of minimizing environmental impact, enabling citizens to enjoy a good living environment, and ensuring sustainable economic growth.

“As a company with Swedish origins, White Peak is focusing on sustainable urban development in China,” said Olsson. “Our stakeholders in Sweden and China expect adherence to ESG best practices. We believe this is one of the keys to our continued success, as evidenced by the issuance of our green bond in 2019.”

“White Peak’s ESG performance has been very impressive, and SEB is proud to have supported the issuance in Sweden of our partner’s green bond,” said Peter Ling-Vannerus, Chief Representative of the Swedish bank SEB in Beijing. “SEB co-developed the Green Bond concept with the World Bank back in 2007-08, and we are happy to see that the concept is being increasingly adopted by businesses and governments as well as becoming a priority for investors today.”

“ESG is among our top priorities and an important tool in this journey are the green bonds. White Peak is among an excellent sample of companies with strong ESG culture who are therefore able to issue green bonds,” concluded Peter Ling-Vannerus.

During the forum, company and organization representatives first discussed how foreign enterprises design and conduct their ESG programs in China to boost China's sustainable development goals.

“Through China and Sweden’s longstanding cooperation in ESG, enterprises from both countries have an increasing number of tools available to develop and implement ESG practices from top to bottom,” said David Hallgren, Vice President of APAC, Business Sweden. “This includes our Sustainable Business Toolkit for Sino-Swedish Supply Chains, which is a practical tool for enterprises who are ‘in China, for China.’”

“Sustainable development and adherence to ESG best practices are essential to our communities and the keys to our long-term strategy and daily operations in China and the world for ABB,” said Roy Yang, ABB Vice President of China Electrification Business Area. “White Peak, our other Swedish partners, and our Chinese partners are dedicated to building the Hammarby Eco City into a world-class sustainable community in Yantai.” 

ABB, a world-leading company in electrification, industrial automation, motion, robotics and discrete automation, will provide the project with its switch panels and low voltage equipment.

Fellow Swedish company Assa Abloy, a global leader in access solutions, will provide intelligent locks to White Peak’s Yantai Hammarby Eco City project.

“We view sustainability as a journey of continuous improvement. Our sustainability addresses the environment, our people, products, and our business partners’ agenda,” said Bill Huang, Assa Abloy Regional Operations Director.

The ESG concept includes not only the better-known environmental protection and preservation elements, but the “social” and “governance” portions which are equally important to sustainable development for companies, investors, and countries.

As an event series, the ESG forum initiated by White Peak, along with the support of the Embassy of Sweden, Business Sweden, and companies from both China and Sweden, aims to address the most urgent issues in ESG, further inject vitality, and introduce development solutions for China’s rapid urbanization.

This recent forum stresses “workplace safety,” a key issue of ESG. It is among the labor force’s fundamental needs that have seen less discussion in many societies. It takes years to build a well-performing workplace safety system and only a second to suffer from a safety flaw.

“It requires a great system to ensure workplace safety, as well as constant auditing and inspections,” says Olsson. “White Peak established a health and safety management system long ago and commissioned auditing firms including Bureau Veritas and Pingda to review the scope of all projects’ health and safety status.” 

“I have advised White Peak for 10 years beginning when they developed the first edition of the occupational health, safety and environmental management system,” said Dr. Fang Dongping, Professor of Tsinghua University’s Department of Construction Management. “China, in collaboration with international partners, is making significant progress in implementing ESG best practices, especially in safety. China’s real estate sector, with White Peak as an outstanding example, is making strides in transforming its safety education, protections, and inspections.”

Contributing to China’s great strides in safety are the third-party auditors conducting safety evaluations to improve enterprises’ adherence to safety standards. During the forum, representatives of international auditing company Bureau Veritas and domestic auditing company Pingda shared their experiences in promoting and advancing safety standards in China.

“Bureau Veritas is proud to support White Peak and all international and domestic companies in China in their efforts to ensure the safety of their employees and contractors,” said Liu Meng, Building and Facilities Division Greater China Operation Center EHS BU Manager, Bureau Veritas.

Ji Chongping, President of Shanghai Pingda, echoing this, said, “We are always conducting research on and practices of ESG and safety management evaluation in the Chinese market. As a leading domestic third-party evaluation company, Pingda is at the forefront of ESG and safety best-practices in China, and we welcome collaboration and exchanges with our international peers and companies in this field.”   

The forum concluded with the fifth annual White Peak Safety Day which awarded White Peak employees and local contractors with commendations for their success in ensuring safe working conditions for all stakeholders.

“Safety, a core principle of ESG, is particularly important in the real estate sector. Our employees and contractors are our most valuable stakeholders, and their workplace safety is our highest priority,” said Olsson about the importance of safety during the awards ceremony. “Today, we want to thank all of these outstanding employees and contractors for assisting White Peak to ensure an incident-free workplace for all stakeholders.”

The Swedish and Chinese collaboration to emphasize ESG and workplace safety is pioneering new models and practical applications for risk and safety management in China.

“It has been a pleasure to attend today’s event and experience firsthand collaboration between Swedish and Chinese stakeholders on ‘down-to-earth’ practices to improve sustainable ESG performance,” said representative from Swedish Embassy to China. “ESG is well promoted by us working on things that may seem small but, in fact, are significant to all of us.”

Empowered by domestic demand for sustainable living environments built by companies with demonstrated ESG practices, the Hammarby model will soon be introduced in more cities in China, starting in White Peak’s core markets of Shandong, Hebei, and Liaoning provinces.

“Our vision and practices in ESG are evolving and progressing, combining international and local experiences to ensure our projects are a model for sustainable development in China,” said Olsson. “We are eager to continue introducing and implementing the best ESG practices to China.”

First embarking on its China journey in Shandong 15 years ago, White Peak is now in 10 Chinese cities. It has more than 20 projects and over 10,000 apartments currently under construction.

A widely recognized frontrunner in sustainability, White Peak was awarded the Regional Sector Leader award and ranked the first among Asian residential developers in the 2019 GRESB Assessment.