The Corporate Net Zero Pathway is released by the United Nations Global Compact on July 27. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co was selected as the representative corporate deep dive for the agriculture and food sector, giving credit to its carbon reduction practice, according to the Corporate Net Zero Pathway that was released by the United Nations Global Compact on July 27.

Yili has been setting up a comprehensive organizational structure for decarbonization initiatives since 2010, and is the first dairy company in China to implement an independent carbon inventory.

Yili's sustainability committee is led by Chairman Pan Gang. Guided by the chairman's committee, the management, business departments, and factories cooperate closely in four action areas, which are win-win results across the industrial chain, quality and innovation, social welfare, and nutrition and health. Clear roles and responsibilities have been assigned to its quality management department, factories, and other departments.

It is estimated that by 2030, the carbon emissions per metric ton of dairy products produced by Yili will be reduced by 40 percent compared with that in 2012.

In 2021, Yili officially launched the "Yili Group Carbon Neutralization Project", and carried out a full life cycle carbon footprint calculation for liquid milk, cold drinks, milk powder, yogurt and other product lines.

Satine organic milk, a high-end subsidiary of Chinese dairy giant Yili Group, was awarded for its carbon reduction efforts on July 27. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Among them, Satine organic milk is an example of Yili's carbon reduction efforts.

In 2020, the Satine organic milk used 4.95 billion bales of FSC packaging materials, which is equivalent to 185,500 mu (12,367 hectares) of sustainable forests.

A poster of Yili's Satine organic milk [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]