The blue sky, white clouds, and the endless prairie are the first impressions that come to people's minds when they mention the pastures. "The wind blows the grass and sees the cows and sheep" is a wonderful illustration of the concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
As a leading dairy company in China, Mengniu has implemented the ESG philosophy and solemnly made such a commitment: It will work with the entire industry chain to protect humanity and society through green production, responsible supply chain creation, and circular economy. The earth is healthy together.
Milk source in the desert
In the vast yellow sands of the Ulan Buh Desert, Mengniu has opened up an organic pure land and milk source with a unique ecological industrial chain.
Herbal sand fixation, sand source radical control, desert greening, water conservation.
Since 2009, Mengniu Shengmu has invested more than 7.5 billion yuan in planting more than 97 million sand trees in the throat of the desert corridor, turning more than 200 square kilometers of desert into oasis, and transforming 220,000 mu of desert into fertile grassland. In the Rambuh Desert, 11 reservoirs with an average area of 50,000 to 60,000 square meters have been built.
Creating an ecological blessed land is not the end. Mengniu has also built a sustainable sand and grass industry chain here, providing high-quality feed for organic farming through organic planting, and using organic fertilizer produced from organic pasture cow dung to further improve soil fertility and drought resistance of crops ability.
Photo courtesy of Mengniu Shengmu Organic Farm Enterprise
According to reports, the current Mengniu Shengmu Organic Farm can produce hundreds of thousands of tons of high-quality organic fertilizers each year, with a total volume of 600,000 cubic meters. It is spread on the desert with a thickness of 1 cm and can cover nearly 10,000 hectares of land.
At the same time, the self-built reservoirs significantly reduced the total amount of water used, and achieved an annual rainfall increase of 91.7 millimeters by conserving water sources; wind and sand control measures also have significant effects on climate regulation, and the average wind force has dropped by 1.5 levels.
In addition to environmental benefits, Mengniu said that Shengmu Ranch also achieved multiple benefits such as economic value and social value: actively constructing storage reservoirs, diverting water from the Yellow River into the Ulan Buhe Desert, reducing corporate costs by RMB 4,288,500; organic pasture and tree planting Afforestation neutralizes greenhouse gas emissions to a certain extent, reducing CO2 emissions equivalent to creating a benefit of RMB 216,665,600; returning cow manure to the field to ensure organic production throughout the chain and reduce opportunities for waste pollution, which is equivalent to reducing the cost of the company by RMB 480 million.
In addition, the development of Shengmu Desert Oasis Ranch also created new job opportunities for local residents, promoted the overall development of organic agriculture and the desert industry, and drove more than 30,000 farmers and herdsmen on the road to poverty alleviation and prosperity.
Green genes in the industry chain
Pay attention to sustainable development, not just at the source of the industry.
Outside the milk source, Mengniu still adheres to the circular economy as its guide, and deeply implants green genes into production, operation, logistics and other links.
The dairy industry is a water-intensive industry, so it is important to develop effective water management measures.
In this regard, Mengniu has implemented a 3U water-saving strategy. As of the end of 2020, a total of 64 water-saving projects have been carried out, covering all aspects of the process from pretreatment, filling, cleaning, refrigeration, and water treatment.
According to water-saving goals, Mengniu's water consumption per ton of dairy products produced by 2025 will drop by 6% compared with 2020.
In terms of energy saving and consumption reduction, Mengniu continues to promote the application of renewable energy.
According to reports, Mengniu will use renewable resources (biomass) to produce 309,000 tons of steam in 2020; use solar photovoltaic power to generate 4,660 MWh, and build a new distributed photovoltaic power station with an installed capacity of 4.7 MW and a total installed capacity of 13.4 trillion. watt.
Conceptual drawing of the sewage treatment plant of Mengniu Wuhan factory image courtesy of the enterprise
In operations, warehousing, logistics and packaging, Mengniu also adheres to the circular economy and implements the concept of green environmental protection.
Through big data monitoring, Mengniu continuously reduces unnecessary emissions and waste in the operation process, improves distribution efficiency with new direct delivery, reduces paper consumption with electronic receipts, and uses PP recycling boxes to reduce packaging waste to optimize the operation process With multiple methods such as reducing milk loss and reducing food waste, we continue to explore the multiple possibilities of green logistics.
Humanistic spirit in public welfare
Sustainable development not only means the harmonious development between man and nature, but also requires mutual assistance and coexistence between people.
Nowadays, fulfilling social responsibility is becoming the consensus of global enterprise development.
Mengniu has always adhered to the business philosophy of "people-oriented, serving the society". It not only has the determination to drive the industry to actively fulfill its social responsibilities, but also stands up in the face of difficulties and shows firm confidence.
Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, Mengniu has taken the lead in the industry to initiate actions such as donating money and materials, timely transportation, and donating materials to build a material center, actively responding to the "three guarantees" promise, resuming work and production, and issued the "guarantee purchase, supply, and transportation capacity," Five safeguards to ensure capital and operations".
During the epidemic, tens of thousands of Mengniu people sent milk to nearly 10,000 hospitals and other epidemic prevention institutions in 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, more than 350 prefecture-level cities, and more than 1,800 districts and counties.
Photo courtesy of Mengniu Material Team Enterprise
In the face of the catastrophe, Mengniu has demonstrated its social responsibility; Mengniu also has social care for the difficulties faced by industry partners.
In November 2021, Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia suffered a severe blizzard, which brought a huge test to the production of all walks of life and the safety of people's lives and properties, and also brought adverse effects on the development of the local dairy industry in Tongliao.
After the snow disaster, Mengniu Group learned about the actual situation in Tongliao for the first time. Based on the implementation of the five upstream guarantee measures highly recognized by the industry during the epidemic, it actively entered the front line to carry out condolences and investigations to help the ranch deal with the fresh milk supply after the disaster. Problems and difficulties such as transportation, forage, pasture operations, and funding.
According to statistics, Mengniu Group has successively invested nearly 100 million yuan in support funds to quickly help partners in disaster-stricken pastures in Tongliao and other regions to stabilize their operations.
Multi-party win-win in internationalization
Deeply plowing sustainable development, Mengniu's vision is not limited to itself.
In the core development strategy of internationalization, Mengniu actively goes global and keeps making progress along the “Belt and Road”.
The first stop of Mengniu's internationalization was in New Zealand.
Here, Mengniu has built the first overseas base of a Chinese dairy company, opening up all the links from milk source to production and sales, self-development and quality control.
Since then, the completion of the Indonesian liquid milk factory is the first step for Mengniu to achieve a milestone in entering the Southeast Asian market.
In the process of international development, Mengniu has also carried out extensive and in-depth cooperation with world-renowned companies such as Danone of France, Arla Foods of Denmark, AsureQuality of New Zealand, etc. in the fields of capital, research and development, branding, standards, and management. Form complementary advantages, and embark on a new development path of win-win for all parties.
Photo courtesy of Mengniu's Yashili New Zealand factory
Today, Mengniu products are exported to more than ten countries and regions including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Mongolia, etc., injecting new vitality into the local consumer market.
As the Chinese chairman unit of the China-New Zealand Business Council, Mengniu actively promotes and promotes closer cooperation in the dairy industry between China and New Zealand.
In addition, Lu Minfang, President of Mengniu Group, also served as a director of the Global Dairy Forum (GDP) and the International Dairy Federation (IDF), actively voiced the voice of Chinese dairy companies internationally, and deeply participated in the construction of the international dairy industry governance system. The industry has injected new momentum for development to promote the sustainable and healthy growth of the global dairy industry.
"The construction of the'Global Dairy Community' will help the dairy industry realize the technological revolution and the reshaping of the supply chain and value chain. It will also promote the global dairy industry to achieve co-governance, sharing, and mutual inclusiveness in the drastic changes of geo-economic restructuring. Sustainable development.” Mengniu Group President Lu Minfang said.
Looking to the future: "Create a new Mengniu"
Since cultivating the path of sustainable development, Mengniu has achieved a series of impressive results: In September 2020, Mengniu became the only mainland Chinese food company to be selected as a constituent stock of the Hang Seng Sustainability Enterprise Index; in January 2021, Mengniu Double Case was selected The State Council’s Office of Poverty Alleviation was ranked as the only company in the dairy industry to be selected as the only company in the dairy industry by virtue of double cases.
Recently, MSCI Inc., one of the world’s largest index companies, has even upgraded Mengniu’s MSCI ESG rating from “BB” in 2020 to “BBB”, which is the highest level so far in China’s food industry. Rating.
The rating upgrade not only shows that Mengniu's ESG performance has been improved, but also reflects the market's high recognition of Mengniu's fulfillment of social responsibility and sustainable development value.
Mengniu stated that in the future, it will continue to strengthen the coordinated development of ESG work and business, adhere to the FIRST strategy of “creating a new Mengniu” (First-Choice, International, Responsibility, Spirit, Technology), and make full use of digital means to improve the quality of ESG work, which will help Mengniu To become a world-class enterprise that consumers love, is internationalized, has a sense of responsibility, has a strong cultural gene and is digitally intelligent, and focuses on responsible supply chain, environmentally friendly green production, all-round nutrition inclusiveness and rural revitalization Carry out sustainable development practices in the four dimensions of the dairy industry’s responsibility.