SHANGHAI, July 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Power management company Eaton recently attended the annual GoldenBee 2030 joint conference for 2020-2021. As the kick-off event for the 16th International CSR Forum, this meeting was held both virtually and in person, and included more than a dozen companies that came together and engaged in a dynamic conversation. The forum allowed for transparent conversations about what organizations have accomplished, learned, and envision for the future of sustainable development.
Anna Zhuang, director of APAC Corporate Communications, Eaton, attended the event and delivered a speech on behalf of the company. Together with executive business leaders from renowned multinational corporations such as State Grid, Sinopec, DuPont, Nestle, Yili, Fosun Group, and Sinochem, she discussed the opportunities and challenges of sustainable corporate development.
The GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative is an active response to the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The initiative aims to build Responsible Corporate Competitiveness with consent on social responsibility and innovative actions, and it helps to enhance the relationship between corporations and society, hence achieving sustainable development on both sides. Eaton is one of the 16 co-initiators of the GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative. For more than ten years, while the topic of sustainable development has undergone many turnings of the tide, Eaton has been continuously expediting the goal. "We will always stay ahead of the curve and implement the 'GoldenBee 2030 Initiative' with concrete actions," Zhuang stated. When it comes to sustainable development, Eaton anchors to the UN's reference target for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and strives in three major aspects, including affordable clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, and actions against climate change. "With these as the starting points, we have been and will always be focusing on technological ascendancy, professionalization in operations, and providing more humane services in response to the ever-evolving global situation along with the challenges."
While discussing the exploration of intelligent energy utilization, Anna mentioned Eaton's intelligent power management solutions, which aim to change power management via upgrades to digital technologies including interconnected devices, data models, and advanced insights. "Digitalization of mobile, Cloud, AI, sensor, and analytical technology enables Eaton to automate, protect, and optimize the modern digitalized grid," Zhuang expressed. "In this fashion, the grid could deal with the increasingly difficult challenges of modern society, therefore achieving safer, more sustainable, and efficient utilization of energy—the ultimate reformation with innovations."
Anna also brought up that in July 2020, Eaton announced it would join the global movement of energy conservation and planned to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. The goal is to cut carbon emissions from the company's operations by at least 50% by 2030, positioning Eaton to achieve carbon neutrality. In the meantime, Eaton will also work with our customers and suppliers to reduce indirect emissions by 15% in dedication to limiting the increase of the world's temperature to 1.5°C. To ensure the right level of accountability and alignment, Eaton is establishing an executive sustainability council chaired by the company's CEO to provide oversight of the company's sustainability strategy. The company also plans to invest more than $3 billion in research and development over the next ten years to create energy-efficient solutions for customers.
"The promotion of digital transformation for corporations is a top priority for Eaton." What Anna presented in the meeting is Brightlayer™, a digital foundation released in October 2020 which leverages years of the company's power management expertise and also digital technologies such as connected devices, Cloud, mobile platforms, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. It is a major step in Eaton's transformation into an intelligent power management company. By leveraging Brightlayer™, Eaton is enabling customers to optimize how power is used, stored, and distributed through data and insights from secure, connected, and intelligent assets. This makes power safer, more sustainable, and efficient for our customers and partners.
The topic of leveraging Industry 4.0 technology to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic is the most noteworthy. Facing the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Eaton's Vehicle Group envisions Industry 4.0 as both an operational and an informational technology with many applications. Displaying 3D images and connecting remotely to improve safety, enhancing training and expediting review processes through augmented reality, analyzing data to reduce costs, improve quality and reduce lead times, implementing robots to promote safe distancing and increase productivity, using digital simulation to improve production efficiency, and leveraging 3D printing tools internally to expedite processes—all of these measures collectively help enable our production systems to be connected, optimized, transparent, proactive, and agile. "With Industry 4.0 technology, we are able to continue to support our operations remotely and continue the development of new products, ensuring our customer deadlines are met despite the global challenges we are all facing," Anna said.
Yu Zhihong, the president and the editor-in-chief of the China Sustainability Tribune, gave an address at the joint conference. Yin Gefei, founder and chief expert of GoldenBee, summarized the CSR 2030 Initiative's agenda for the past year while also inviting the co-initiating enterprises to elaborate on their practical progress during 2020. The co-initiators also discussed and agreed on an action plan for the initiative in the upcoming year.
About GoldenBee
GoldenBee is a pioneer network of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable development in China and a collective brand of Chinese enterprises pursuing sustainable development. GoldenBee has gradually developed into an important CSR and sustainable development platform in China. Dedicated to motivating enterprises to take social responsibility and sustainable development practices in China, GoldenBee continuously carries out "Looking for Bee-Enterprises" campaign from 2007. The "GoldenBee Enterprises" with the "responsible competitiveness" can promote the synergies and shared prosperity of enterprises, the environment, and the society, thus contributing to common sustainability of enterprises and the society. As of the end of 2019, a total of 329 enterprises had been named as "GoldenBee Enterprises".
About Eaton
Eaton's mission is to improve the quality of life and the environment through the use of power management technologies and services. We provide sustainable solutions that help our customers effectively manage electrical, hydraulic, and mechanical power – more safely, more efficiently, and more reliably. Eaton's 2020 revenues were $17.9 billion, and we sell products to customers in more than 175 countries. We have approximately 96,000 employees.
Eaton firstly established a presence in the Asia Pacific region during the 1970s. Since then, the company's presence has grown significantly with a fast-growing network of sales and marketing offices, manufacturing plants, service centers and research facilities in the region. Eaton moved its Asia Pacific headquarters from Hong Kong to Shanghai in 2014.
Today, we have nearly 20,000 employees, 6 R&D centers and manufacture in 52 manufacturing facilities in countries and regions including Mainland China, Taiwan, India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Australia for all of Eaton's distinct business.
For more information, visit Eaton.com.
