A hustle and bustle, the booth of Procter and Gamble (P&G) at the Fourth China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai greets visitors for the third year in a row. 

Rene Co, Chief Sustainability Officer and Vice President for Communications of P&G Greater China, sees the CIIE as a very important international platform for business and his company is happy to be part of it. "We are encouraged by the continued support of the government. Especially in a post-pandemic era, the ability to mount something of this scale is truly impressive," Co told Beijing Review.

"Chinese consumers have become the most demanding group in the world, so we need to continue innovating for them. That's why our efforts to step up innovation have picked up pace," said Co. According to him, the U.S. consumer goods company nowadays launches a new product, either an upgraded version of an existing product or a completely new item, on the Chinese market every four to five days on average.

As China now focuses on green and low-carbon development and switches gears to achieve its ambitious climate goals, enterprises on their part, too, have made commitments. P&G announced at this year's expo its Net-Zero 2040 goals, which means "achieving zero carbon emissions from operations all the way to the time when products reach the hands of retailers."

As part of this program, the company further unveiled its e-commerce packaging made from 100 percent mono and recyclable materials--100 percent waterproof to prevent parcel damage. Compared with the current corrugated parcel packaging, this upgraded version uses 40 percent fewer materials.

"Now we're developing a second edition which is reusable. So that it shall be recyclable and can be used many times," Co said, adding that this development not only applies to P&G products, but instead is designed to serve the overall industry as a novel e-commerce package solution.

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon 

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