When China’s richest e-commerce entrepreneur decided to donate more than $2.8 billion worth of shares to charity, the rest of the world took notice. China has recently focused on a social equity initiative that has seen the wealthiest among the nation’s earners turn to philanthropic outreach to help balance the scales.
Ushered by President Xi Jinping through his common prosperity measure to narrow the wealth gap, Liu Qiangdong would announce the massive donation through his e-commerce company JD.com.
The social outreach and philanthropic initiatives put in place by Liu Qiangdong recently have only underscored the importance of corporate responsibility in today’s day and age.
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Massive Philanthropic Outreach
Hailing from relatively humble origins himself, Richard Liu knows what it is like to struggle. Liu grew up in the rural town of Chang’an where he was raised in relative poverty, only ever consuming meat such as pork a few times per year. After raising money through the support of his fellow villagers, Liu Qiangdong would head to the city to pursue education at the People’s University of China.
Now an international philanthropist and e-commerce giant with JD.com, Liu Qiangdong is giving back to support those who have been in positions like his. Through JD.com, Liu has dedicated more than $2.28 billion in shares to charity alongside other giants like Alibaba Group and Xiaomi.
While philanthropy is important to Liu as well as the people of JD.com, it isn’t his sole focus. Instead, Liu Qiangdong has been expanding his awareness of the world by focusing on curating a greener and more environmentally responsible business.
The Green Stream Initiative
As philanthropy continues to become a larger part of his business’s focus, environmental awareness is also coming to light. For the second straight year, JD has worked to release an EGS report on their responsibility to the environment as well as their goals in social efficiency and green development.
The second EGS report revealed JD.com’s efforts with the Green Stream Initiative. Right now, the EGS report states that JD.com has a goal of reducing its carbon emissions by half before the year 2030, using numbers based on 2019 levels. In order to accomplish this goal, JD has already dedicated more than $150 million USD to a five-year plan known as the Green Stream Initiative to help build a broader and greener integrated supply chain.
Efforts to clean up environmental messes have already shown progress in China. The Green Stream Initiative already helped China’s e-commerce sector to eliminate more than 10 billion disposable packages as they were replaced by recyclable alternatives. At the time of this writing, those recyclable alternatives have already been used more than 200 million times. The effort of this initiative required more than 200,000 merchants to come together in collaboration.
A More Sustainable Future
JD.com is also looking to build itself as a giant of technology for a more sustainable future. JD.com’s new mission statement read, “Powered by technology for a more productive and sustainable world.”
In addition to its recent efforts to raise money for green causes, JD.com has also been focused on supporting farmers and other key agricultural developments throughout the nation. Through its efforts to expand into new markets, JD.com has helped to create more than 300,000 frontline job opportunities with the vast majority centrally located in rural areas.
About Carson Derrow
