Issue No. 03

May 2022

Code of Conduct Trainings Held For Suppliers

As all major suppliers have turned in their signed copy of the updated Exemplis Code of Conduct, the Compliance Team offered online training to help suppliers understand the CoC better. The training session was held for North America/Europe and Asia suppliers on April 5^th and 20^th respectively. <More…>

Suppliers Posted CoC and Held Internal Trainings

The Code of Conduct is the foundation for the work of Compliance and we want suppliers to have good understanding of the minimum standards throughout their organizations, so we requested them to post the CoC at their workplaces and have internal trainings for their staff. As of the end of April, there are 14 suppliers that have completed the posting and training. <More…>

Q1 Asia Suppliers CSR Highlights

There are 16 suppliers that submitted CSR reports for Q1 2022. Some of the highlights taken from their reports are as follow: <More…>

Ø On Feb. 23^rd, Asber held a teambuilding activity for their employees to make dumplings and buns after returning from the Chinese New Year holiday. The activity aimed to increase team morale and make employees feel the warmth of the factory like home.

Ø On March 8^th, UE Furniture had series of activities for the female employees, who made up of half of their workforce, to celebrate the International Women’s Day including DIY bakeries and management giving out gift packages to production workers.

Ø On March 25^th, Kelly’s Shenzhen factory re-opened after one week’s shutdown due to the city’s temporary lockdown out of COVID spread. The factory gathered workers to emphasize rules and reinforced disinfection.

Sub-contractor Compliance Survey Forms

As one of our Code compliance requirements “Subcontracting Must be Authorized”, subcontracting is something that we want to monitor besides our main focus on our direct suppliers. We used a self-developed form to assess compliance risk of subcontractors. There are 8 suppliers that submitted the form including one recent one from Guifei Hardware. <More…>

ExemCare portal upgraded v1.6

To further enhance the features and facilitate self-assessment needs, the module for uploading documents list has been added to the ExemCare web portal. The Instruction Document for suppliers have also been updated accordingly. As the COVID restrictions continue in China,  Brock is foreseeing that more suppliers will have to be self-assessed before site audit is convenient. <More…>

Self-assessment Feature Introduced to 4 suppliers

In April, we had introduction meetings with 4 suppliers in China, namely Samhongsa, Luoyang Ouzheng, Lumi and Packbest as travel restrictions were re-imposed and our self-assessment feature in the web portal is more mature. The assessments are expected to be completed in May.

Microplastics found in human blood for first time

March 25^th - Microplastic pollution has been detected in human blood for the first time, with scientists finding the tiny particles in almost 80% of the people tested. The discovery shows the particles can travel around the body and may lodge in organs.

Lifting 800 Million People Out of Poverty – New Report from World Bank

March 31^st - Over the past 40 years, the number of people in China with incomes below $1.90 per day – the International Poverty Line defined by the World Bank – has fallen by close to 800 million, contributing three-quarters of the global poverty reduction.

BYD announced to stop production of fuel vehicles, the world’s first

On April 3, China’s carmaker BYD officially announced: “According to the company’s strategic development needs, the production of fuel vehicles will be stopped from March 2022.” It will focus on EV pure electric and DM plug-in hybrid vehicles in the future, making it the world’s first to have this shift.

Canada Introduces Mandatory Climate Disclosures for Financial Institutions from 2024

April 8^th - Canada will require banks and insurance companies to provide disclosures on their climate-related risks and exposures beginning in 2024, according to the federal government’s newly released Budget 2022. The budget also outlines over $9 billion in proposed funding to address climate change, and plans for a new green bond offering in the upcoming year.

Apple and Partners Launch First-ever $200 million Restore Fund for Climate Solutions

April 16^th - Apple announced a first-of-its-kind carbon removal initiative — called the Restore Fund — that will make investments in forestry projects to remove carbon from the atmosphere while generating a financial return for investors. The $200 million fund aims to remove at least 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually from the atmosphere.

California Advances Global Climate Leadership Through Expanded Partnership with China

April 18^th - Governor Newsom and China’s Minister of Ecology and Environment signed Memorandum of Understanding on climate change and the environment. The MOU includes new focus on collaboration and strategies to achieve carbon neutrality, promote nature-based solutions, and advance climate-resilient infrastructure.

CEMEX, Sasol to Use Captured CO2 to Generate Sustainable Aviation Fuel

April 18^th -  Global construction and buildings materials company CEMEX, Sasol’s sustainable fuels and chemicals unit Sasol ecoFT, and renewable energy company ENERTRAG announced they are teaming up for a project that will use captured CO2 from cement production to generate sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

David Attenborough receives the UN’s most distinguished environment award

Nairobi, 21 April 2022 – The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) announced today that Sir David Attenborough is the recipient of the Champions of the Earth Lifetime Achievement Award for his dedication to research, documentation, and advocacy for the protection of nature and its restoration.

New framework helps companies make the right decisions for packaging sustainability

Geneva, 13 April 2022 - Today, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) launched SPHERE, the packaging sustainability framework. Developed in collaboration with 12 across the packaging value chain, the new framework helps businesses choose the most sustainable option for their specific packaging need and delivery system.

French President Macron’s climate challenge is to build out renewables

April 28^th - France has set ambitious renewable energy targets it is struggling to meet. By 2030, the country has pledged to increase the share of renewables in gross final energy consumption to 32% and the share of renewables in electricity production to 40%, twice the share of renewable energy in French electricity production today.