China's e-commerce platforms not doing enough on climate -Greenpeace

Kuaishou Technology

09/11/2023 05:34

SINGAPORE, Nov 9 (Reuters) - China's top e-commerce
platforms have made insufficient effort to steer consumers onto
a more sustainable path that would help protect the environment
and combat climate change, environment group Greenpeace said on
Thursday. 
    "There's been clear progress for some of these companies
since the last time we did a formal analysis," said Tang Damin,
Greenpeace project manager in Beijing. "But overall, China's
e-commerce giants still don't do enough to leverage their
platforms towards sustainability."
    In a report ranking the environmental record of six of
China's e-commerce giants, Greenpeace said the discount online
shopping platform Pinduoduo  PDD.O  performed the worst, making
"no progress whatsoever" on climate and environmental
protection.
    Pinduoduo was given a negative score on Greenpeace's list
after failing to draw up strategies on issues like climate
change, waste, dangerous chemicals and biodiversity. 
    The company did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.  
    Pinduoduo was also the only company among the six assessed
not to have implemented measures to ban illegal plant and animal
trading. 
    The report also said that while video app operators Kuaishou
 1024.HK  and Douyin had both taken action, prohibited products
were still available on their platforms as of late August.
Neither Kuaishou nor Douyin owner Bytedance responded to
requests for comment.     
    Greenpeace said Alibaba  9988.HK  was the best performer,
and was the only one of the six with "a strategy to respond to
climate change through engaging and enabling users and
businesses on its platform." 
    It did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 


 (Reporting by David Stanway; Additional reporting by Sophie Yu,
Josh Ye and Casey Hall; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
 ((david.stanway@thomsonreuters.com))