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World Environment Center and Shanghai General Motors Announce Results of 2009 Greening the Supply Chain Project

World Environment Center and Shanghai General Motors Announce Results of 2009 Greening the Supply Chain Project

Published 06-14-10

Submitted by World Environment Center

The World Environment Center (WEC) and Shanghai General Motors (SGM) today announced the results of their 2009 "Greening the Supply Chain Initiative." The 2009 project involved 125 Tier 1 suppliers that make a variety of automobile products and parts for SGM-produced automobiles in China's domestic market.

SGM's Greening the Supplier China Initiative is the most comprehensive undertaking of its kind among all Chinese auto manufacturers. In 2005, GM China introduced the best practices of a Green Supplier Chain program with the help of GM global public policy team to SGM. It was then implemented as a small pilot program involving 8 suppliers of SGM. It has since progressed to market scale in subsequent years. SGM is a joint venture between General Motors and the Shanghai Automotive International Corporation.

The project goal is to advance sustainable development in SGM's national supply chain by working directly with suppliers to reduce the environmental impacts of their manufacturing processes. Results from the 2009 project include:


  • Reduction of over one million tons of water among participating suppliers.

  • Decreases of over eighty million kW/hours of energy use.

  • Elimination of over fifty-five thousand tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

  • Reduced raw material costs per unit of output.

  • Improved cycle time and the ability to be more responsive to customer needs.

"Shanghai General Motors has been a leader in implementing a green supply chain focus to its business operations," concluded Dr. Terry F. Yosie, WEC's President & CEO. "By managing sustainable development initiatives through a business process, SGM has improved the energy and environmental performance across its supply chain, built stronger customer-supplier relationships and increased its ability to adapt to evolving governmental requirements." For a copy of the recent presentation on WEC-SGM 2009 project results, please connect to this link.

WEC has managed a number of greening the supply chain projects in recent years. In addition to China, WEC's projects were implemented in Australia, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua and Romania.

About WEC: WEC is a global, non-profit, non-advocacy institution whose mission is to assist companies implement sustainable development in their business strategy development and operations. WEC manages projects through direct, on-the-ground partnerships in the countries in which it operates. WEC's partners in China include the China Eco-Efficiency Research Center and JPI Group Inc. WEC is headquartered in Washington D.C. and maintains regional offices in China, El Salvador and Germany. For more information on WEC please go to www.wec.org.

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World Environment Center

World Environment Center

The World Environment Center advances sustainable development through corporate business practices. Headquartered in Washington, D.C. with offices in Europe and Latin America, WEC creates business solutions through Executive Roundtables on key sustainability challenges, builds capacity of small enterprises in emerging markets, and honors industry excellence through its annual Gold Medal Award. WEC is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization. For more information, please visit www.wec.org.

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