Ma Jun: Creating A Cleaner China
At a panel discussion hosted by Asia Society and NRDC on November 4th, Chinese environmental activist Ma Jun argued that the push for more sustainable supply chain practices is also a call for more transparency, collaboration, and knowledge shared among business, government, non-profits, and local activists. “This is the watershed moment,” Ma said. “If we can seize this moment and embed that with climate strategy, do you know how much we can achieve?”
The best way to monitor and correct environmental violations, said Ma, is to establish benchmarks, collect sound data, and make any violations transparent to the public. Fellow panelists Linda Greer of NRDC and Lenny Mendonca of McKinsey agreed that it is vital to encourage transparency and raise the standards of the manufacturing industry as a whole.
Ma’s Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) is leading the compaign in China for greater transparency. IPE maintains a database that collects information on the environmental impact of factories all over China. Most importantly, it makes the data publicly available online via its China Water Pollution Map.
IPE’s data are collected through its own investigations, as well as those by local activists who participate in IPE’s “Take A Picture To Locate A Polluter” program. This program calls upon local citizens to use technology, social media, and crowd-sourcing to identify factories responsible for environmental violations. By taking photos and collecting data for further research and investigation by IPE, the everyday citizen becomes a crucial part of the solution.
The Chinese government is also responding to the growing environmental crisis. To address to China’s increasingly dire air quality, for example, Ma said, “the government is responding with huge action plans. In the areas surrounding Beijing, 18 million fewer tons of coal will be burned every year.”
Large multinational corporations are beginning to respond as well – a crucial beginning goal of IPE operations. Mendonca praised the strategy of starting with large, highly visible corporations like Nike, Apple, and Siemens, whose impact is so outsized that its embrace of environmental protection can have spillover effects for competitors and the economy at large. Such companies are very familiar with more environmentally friendly regulation in the U.S. and other countries. Now, it’s necessary to convince them to follow similar practices in China as well.
A great example is IPE’s work with Apple. In their first meeting with the firm, Ma and NRDC’s Greer presented their findings on environmental violations to Apple representatives.At first, Greer said, Apple simply didn’t believe that it could have been responsible for so much damage. But after reviewing IPE’s findings and verifying them through its own investigation, Apple switched course and began working on cleaning up, becoming the first large, successful IPE collaborator.
The next steps, Ma said, are to expand beyond consumer products into other, more challenging sectors like cement, steel, and coal, which cause far greater environmental damage.
How can others repeat IPE's successes?
First, Ma said, “You must do your research.” One cannot walk into a meeting and expect people to listen without sound data and expertise. He stressed that an attitude of openness to collaboration, not antagonism, is equally important.
Though success can be hard to gauge when so many others are polluting even more, Greer noted that one key indicator is when companies stop evading authorities and request improved government regulation that levels the playing field for competitors as well.
Melanie Nutter, Director of San Francisco’s Department of Environment, moderated the panel. The sold-out event was held in partnership with the NRDC and co-sponsored by The Goldman Prize and the S.F. Department of Environment.