Sino Ocean : “Carbon Neutral" by 2050! Sino-Ocean Announces Commitment in Sustainable Development Report

On April 20, the Sustainable Development Report 2020 of Sino-Ocean Group (the 'Report') was officially released as the 11th annual public report on the Company's sustainable development performance and corporate social responsibility, and was rated five stars by professional evaluation institutions for the sixth consecutive year.​​

The Report illustrates Sino-Ocean Group's strategy of 'Building·Health' in five dimensions, namely Healthy Management, Quality & Health, Healthy Environment, Healthy Workplace and Healthy Society.​

01 ENABLE HEALTHY MANAGEMENT: Announced sustainable development strategy for the first time and won MSCI-ESG BBB rating

As the understanding of sustainable development deepens, and as social and environmental risks become increasingly prominent, the capital market has expanded its scope of consideration from financial conditions to environmental, social and corporate governance factors. Through analysis and research, as well as interviews and surveys and based on actual business development and operations, Sino-Ocean Group put forward its sustainable development strategy for the first time, and formulated the 'Sustainable Development Policy of Sino-Ocean Group' to systematically and effectively guide the sustainable development work, and facilitate ESG-related topics in line with the overall societal development and the global consensus. The sustainable development strategy was built on the foundation of the main business of the Company, and supported by the five sustainable development pillars of corporate governance, products and services, environment, employees, community and society, to better facilitate and guide the implementation of sustainable development initiatives.

To further address the expectations of stakeholders, Sino-Ocean Group attaches great importance to the opinion of the capital market and has maintained industry-leading ESG performance rating. In 2020, Sino-Ocean Group participated in the MSCI-ESG rating and was further upgraded to BBB after its rise to BB in 2019. Meanwhile, Sino-Ocean Group remained included in the Constituent Stocks of the Hang Seng Sustainable Development Enterprise Benchmark Index in 2020, and was upgraded to A+ rating for its level of public information disclosure. Sino-Ocean Group was also awarded the highest A rating in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), for its level of public information disclosure.

02 ENSURE QUALITY AND HEALTH: Registered 106 green building projects with a total area of more than 15 million square meters

The pandemic has deepened understandings and raised expectations for health, further enabling the development of healthy buildings. As a pioneer of 'Building·Health' in China, Sino-Ocean Group has always taken 'Building·Health' as its development strategy and product gene. Over the year of 2020, Sino-Ocean remained committed to improving living environments by enhancing product quality, and constantly explored for more potential to improve the health performance of buildings, making relentless efforts in implementing the 'Healthy China' strategy.

Six years ago, Sino-Ocean Group took the lead and introduced the WELL Building Standard into China. It is the world's first building certification system specifically focusing on resident health and well-being, and is known as the 'Academy Awards' of the construction industry. By the end of 2020, Sino-Ocean Group had officially obtained the final WELL certification for 11 projects, and is the enterprise with the most WELL-certified projects and the largest WELL-certified area in China. Based on health standards suitable for the Chinese people, Sino-Ocean Group conducted research into formulating a healthy building system and officially released the 'Sino-Ocean Healthy Building System 1.1' in January 2020. In 2021, Sino-Ocean will continue to improve and upgrade the healthy building system iteratively to serve customers with greater health value.

Dedicated to creating green products, Sino-Ocean has formed significant market competitive advantages in green design, green construction, green operation and green workplace. All Sino-Ocean projects are constructed strictly in accordance with the standards of saving energy by 65%, ensuring 30% green space, and systematically applying green and environment-friendly architectural technologies. By the end of 2020, Sino-Ocean Group had registered 106 green building projects, which accounted for 61.5% of all projects, with a total registered area of more than 15 million square meters. Sino-Ocean Group has also established its green building goals: by 2025, Sino-Ocean Group will achieve high-star level by green building standards for 100% of its self-held projects. In addition, Sino-Ocean Group has entered into a Green Finance Framework with plans to provide funding support to green building certification programs and for the improvement of the adaptability of existing buildings to climate change through green financial instruments.

03 SHARE A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT: Declared war on climate change with the commitment to achieve 'carbon neutrality' by 2050

In September 2020, China announced at the 75th UN General Assembly the goal of 'peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060', which is also known as China's 30/60 Goal. In March this year, the central government of China reiterated the emphasis on the integration of carbon peaking and carbon neutralization into the overall planning of ecological civilization construction.

Following the national initiative and committed to social responsibility, Sino-Ocean rose to the call of the Paris Agreement and China's 30/60 Goal in 2020 and issued the 'Sino-Ocean Declaration Responses to Climate Change' and the '2050 Net Zero Plan', signifying Sino-Ocean's accession to the progressive march towards 'carbon neutrality'. With a promise to become a 'net zero emission' real estate enterprise by 2050, Sino-Ocean stands ready to work with all walks of society to cope with climate change and safeguard the beautiful environment shared by the human civilization.

To this end, Sino-Ocean officially disclosed its medium-term environmental goals to reduce carbon emissions/energy consumption intensity by 35% by 2025 (2018 as base year). In 2020, total energy consumption intensity was reduced by ~16.4% as compared to the previous year.

In addition, Sino-Ocean Group is committed to biodiversity protection in the process of project investment, planning and development. For example, Sino-Ocean transformed the 1,728 square meter greenhouse of Sanya Damao Village into a natural ecology museum for tropical plant appreciation, herbarium exhibition, insect breeding and observation, and environmental education, which has become an attraction for tourists home and abroad to experience and learn about Nature. In 2020, the Sino-Ocean Sanya Damao Village was recognized internationally for its contribution to environmental education and conservation, and was awarded the title of Education Base for Sustainable Development by UNESCO ICUA.

04 CO-BUILD A HEALTHY WORKLACE: Shaped a new corporate culture of 'Responsibility, Sharing and Health' with emphasis on employee rights and interests

Employees are the cornerstone to enterprise development. Sino-Ocean Group believes that greater contribution to the Company's value can only be made by continuously redefining the individual value of its employees. Sino-Ocean Group proactively shapes a new corporate culture of 'Responsibility, Sharing and Health' to form a cultural mindset of responsibility, cooperation and stable development.

In terms of employee rights and interests, Sino-Ocean developed the 'Sino-Ocean Group Policy on Human Rights' in 2020 to ensure full respect and protection of the human rights of its partners, including employees, customers, investors and suppliers. In terms of employee activities, the first FAMILY DAY of Sino-Ocean was held in 18 cities for 53 projects jointly, where 277 families and nearly 1,000 participants gathered together in Sino-Ocean offices nationwide. In terms of safety and health, Sino-Ocean Group takes the physical and mental health of employees as the key purpose of workspace environment design and provides a safe and healthy workplace environment with the new office area of Sino-Ocean headquarters, which is the largest workspace certified for WELL Platinum in Asia. In terms of employee development, Sino-Ocean has set up a well-established employee training system to facilitate the growth of individual employees. In 2020, Sino-Ocean Group achieved 100% employee training rate across the entire Group, with 1537 training courses and 394,601 training hours accumulated.

05 CONTRIBUTE TO A HEALTHY SOCIETY: Facilitated urban community development with supporting social welfare funds of over RMB 500 million

Over the years, under the guidance of the 'Building·Health' philosophy, Sino-Ocean Group has been providing dedicated support to the development of the communities and the wider regions in which it operates. It has made unremitting efforts to support those in the surrounding communities, villages and cities to live a better life, fulfilling its corporate social responsibility through the platform of Sino-Ocean Charity Foundation to help communities and cities achieve their respective sustainable development goals.

In 2020, Sino-Ocean further advanced in the fields of urban revitalization, smart city construction as well as community culture and art, facilitating the organic growth of people, architecture and city by contributing to the construction of sustainable cities and communities,as demonstrated through its masterpiece works on Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu, Guiyuan Temple Project Wuhan, Heart of Hankow Wuhan and Ocean Seafront Towers Shenzhen. With its outstanding performance in the above-mentioned fields, Sino-Ocean Group won the title of 'Outstanding Operator of Urban Renewal' in 2020.

Since its establishment, Sino-Ocean Group has been actively fulfilling its corporate social responsibility and has provided over RMB 500 million in social welfare funding support, benefiting more than 150 cities across China. In 2020, Sino-Ocean directly led a total of 8,082 volunteers to provide 92,880 hours of volunteer services.

​As the pioneer of 'Building·Health', Sino-Ocean pursues sustainable development on the basis of environmental protection and shared growth with employees, users and the industry. In 2021, Sino-Ocean will advance along the strategic path of sustainable development under the guidance of the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and work alongside all stakeholders to win the battle of sustainable development, with commitment to working with ingenuity, serving customers with heart and crafting products with sincerity.​​