The 3rd Green and Clean Forum Go back »

2017-12-19 | Nanjing

The 3rd Green and Clean Forum was held at Shangri-La Hotel Nanjing on 7th December. The opening session kicked off with a welcoming speech by Dr. Uwe Kirchgaessner, President of BASF-YPC Company Limited, which produces chemicals and polymers. His speech included some remarks on the importance of water, not only to the 10 billion people who will live on the planet by 2050, but even in chemical production and development, emphasizing that it is in the interest of all stakeholders to protect water and use it sustainably. 

He was followed by Ms. Zhang Danning, Deputy Director of the Nanjing Environmental Protection Bureau, also gave a keynote speech, explaining the latest policies in China regarding environmental protection, especially in water protection. Mr. Jean-Philippe Dufour, Counsellor for sustainable development to the Embassy of France in China gave the third and final speech of the opening session. He focused on the significance of China in the fight against Climate Change; and considering the immensity of China’s carbon market, Europe and China should be partners.

In the following 1st Panel, Dr. Markus Hermann, Director of Human Resources at BASF-YPC Company Limited, chaired the panel which focused on the EU experience and practice in water protection and government/public relations. Dr. Linda von dem Bussche, Senior Vice President of the Environmental and Safety Services Ludwigshafen, BASF SE, started off the panel with an introduction to the work BASF has done in creating products for a sustainable future. With 360 production sites around the world, BASF adheres to the “Verbund” principle, a concept and system in which BASF is able to add value through the efficient use of our resources. Chemical products, contrary to popular beliefs, according to Dr. Bussche, are also the solution to many environmental problems. The panel discussion included a short Q&A of several questions for Busche, Danning, and Dufour, related to the success factors in cleaning the Rhine river, how companies should go about aligning policies with regulations, and how to work under water protection laws. A common thread between all the given answers was the importance of collaboration, namely companies and governments working together to solve environmental problems.

The second panel focused on the question -- how do we protect our strategic natural resources, specifically on the waters resources of China? This panel was chaired by Dr. Andreas Risch, the General Manager of Fette Compacting (China) Co., Ltd. The first speech by Mr. Zhang Zhehai, the Vice Head of the Environment Monitoring Center explained the current status quo and the future tendency of monitoring in China. He introduced the current technical problems for water pollution monitoring and pointed out the importance of water preservation in today’s China. Ollivier Ramus, Managing Director for Industry in SUEZ Asia Water, addressed today’s challenges to protecting water in China and the EU. The core goals of his company were to develop access to resources for everyone, protect resources and the ecosystem, optimize the use of water, and produce new resources as well. The third presentation was given by Mr. Hu Jian, Senior Vice President of Lenzing Group in North Asia, on how smart business leads to clean water. He explained certain CSR initiatives that the Lenzing Group has undertaken to both promote sustainable and affordable methods in its productive process. The key to this was to understand the major challenge of limited resources and find the best ways to develop environmentally sound practices. 

The panel discussions ended after several questions, which dealt with the overall trends of water protection in China, and Mr. Lamboo, Chief Representative of the Netherlands Business Support office of Nanjing, took the stage to offer some closing remarks where he thanked the panel, expressed confidence in the partnership between China and the EU, as well as between businesses and government. Over 200 representatives from the local governments, Medias and businesses attended the forum.