On November 30th, the 4th China Corporate Social Responsibility Pioneer Forum and the 2021 Awards Ceremony were successfully held in Shanghai. AHB was awarded the “2021 ESG Most Valuable Investment Corporation” for its outstanding performance in the ESG field. ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance, which reflects a corporation’s contribution to promoting sustainable economic development and fulfilling social responsibilities.
In recent years, while maintaining sustained growth in performance, AHB has actively responded to the “carbon neutrality” strategy, practiced ESG concepts, and explored sustainable development paths.
For example, AHB provides BASF with L-Alanine products produced using anaerobic fermentation technology, which not only has no carbon dioxide emissions during the production process but also reduces wastewater by 90%, energy consumption by 40%, and production costs by 50% compared to traditional methods. This has significant economic and environmental benefits and promotes the global application of BASF’s new environmentally friendly agent, MGDA (methylglycinediacetic acid). To make the products more in line with low-carbon and environmental protection requirements, AHB has paid attention to designing suitable sustainable development plans for its products and customers since the research and development stage.
In 2020, AHB’s Qinhuangdao base became one of the first companies in the synthetic biology industry to receive national-level green factory certification. AHB fully implements the design and management concept of “green intelligent manufacturing, low-carbon leading,” and builds a full life-cycle management system for green factories, green products, and green services. It conducts in-depth research and analysis from the direction of product development, production processes, and process equipment, and reduces the environmental impact of the entire production process from harmless raw materials, automated production, intensive plants, waste resource utilization, and low-carbon energy.
In October 2021, AHB and several companies, including global chemical giant BASF, jointly established the “Sustainable Development Co-construction Alliance,” aiming to gather industry chain cooperation partners, promote low-carbon development in key industries, and promote a circular economy. The goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25% from 2018 levels by 2030 and achieve net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. AHB will become a backbone force of the “Sustainable Development Co-construction Alliance.”
Fan Yi, AHB’s director and vice president, believes that “AHB’s core driving force for achieving high-quality development in recent years first comes from good governance norms, which provide a system guarantee for the company’s long-term and rapid development. Secondly, AHB focuses on green biomanufacturing technology and actively contributes to the national policy of “carbon neutrality and carbon emissions.” Relevant ESG indicators have always been an important basis for AHB’s consideration, from technology or product options to the selection of manufacturing processes.”
