The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a Geneva-headquartered non-profit led by chief executive officers from more than 200 global member companies, has established an office in Wuhan, in China’s Hubei province.
The new office launches in a province of global importance for industries including renewables, smart vehicles, optoelectronics, high-end equipment and satellite-based radio navigation systems, WBCSD noted in a press release on Friday.
Hubei also holds strategic significance for transportation, resource allocation and the Chinese economy, highlighted as the province’s imports and exports reached 102.03 billion yuan (US$14 billion) in the first two months of 2024 – up 12.7 per cent year on year, WBCSD said.
Wuhan, widely pinpointed as ground-zero for the Covid-19 pandemic as it reported the world’s first Covid-19 cases in December 2019, has been trying to move on and restart its economy. As a major industrial base and transport hub, the city faces significant pollution challenges and has PM2.5 levels at more than seven times above the World Health Organisation’s guidelines for healthy air quality.
PM2.5 is particle matter measuring less than the width of a human hair that when inhaled can penetrate deep into the lungs and cause a myriad of health problems.
Zhou Weidong, WBCSD’s Beijing-based chief representative, said that the Wuhan office launch would help to advance international sustainable development concepts and practices in China, and encourage Chinese businesses to share sustainability solutions on the global stage.
Zhou will run the Wuhan office as well as the lead the Beijing operation as China director.
Peter Bakker, WBCSD’s president and chief executive, said that the organisation’s ability to bring together innovative technologies and working practices will provide more effective solutions for global challenges, such as climate change and nature loss.
The launch was supported by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, or CCPIT. The organisation’s Hubei director, Hu Zhonghai, said that he hoped WBCSD would “allow Chinese businesses to accelerate transformation towards sustainable development, strengthen capacity building and attract innovative sustainable development technologies to invest and develop in Hubei.”
