CV issues the first Sustainable Development Report to promise its responsibilities for“Green Mountains and Clean Waters”

On March 13th， the second day of this years Yan Expo （Spring and Summer）， “Promising Responsibilities for Nature： From Forests to Fashion — Release Conference of CV Sustainable Development Report” was held in the National Exhibition Center （Shanghai）. On the conference， the Collaboration for Sustainable Development of Viscose （CV） officially issued the first sustainable development report.

This report disclosed the key environmental performance information， including energy consumption， water consumption， total sulfur recycling rate， and waste water discharge of the regenerated cellulose fiber industry， responded to issues of top concern to global stakeholders， and examined the outlook of CVs future. This report release also gained wide attention from relevant government departments， the third parties of the regenerated cellulose fiber industry， relevant certification institutions， brand owners， upstream and downstream textile enterprises.

Release of the first sustainable development report Strengthening multiparty negotiation with stakeholders

CVs sustainable development report of 2018 was jointly compiled by the Social Responsibility Officie of China National Textile and Apparel Council and the China Chemical Fibers Association. This report disclosed the development status of Chinas regenerated cellulose fiber industry， elaborated on CVs sustainable development governance models as well as on progress and practice of the industrys economic， environmental and social responsibilities， and put forward a feasible planning and path for the industrys sustainable development.

CV is a public organization committed to promoting sustainable development of Chinas regenerated cellulose fiber industry. Initiated by leading enterprises of the cellulose fiber industry， CV was founded in March 2018. Adhering to the major guideline of a responsible supply chain system featuring from “forests to fashion，” CV strives to reduce the influence of the regenerated cellulose fiber industry and the full life cycle on the environment， and undertake more social responsibilities in the society-wide construction efforts of “green mountains and clean waters.” The sustainable development report of 2018 involved the work report of 14 members.

Since its foundation， CV has been made unremitting efforts to accelerate green and sustainable development of the industry. By charting the “CV Roadmap，” it has formulated the sustainable development goal for the regenerated cellulose fiber industry. The CV members have organized various sustainable development activities revolving around requirements of the “CV Roadmap.” At the same time， CV has published the “Three-Year Action Plan for Green Development of the Regenerated Cellulose Fiber Industry” to build the industrial information release platform， green industrial chain sharing platform， sustainable development management platform， and energy-saving and emission-reduction technological promotion platform. All this is done for the purpose of laying a solid foundation for the industrial green and sustainable development. In order to further improve the industrial transparency and respond to requirements of stakeholders， CV compiled and published the development report.

Duan Xiaoping， Vice President of China National Textile and Apparel Council and President of China Chemical Fibers Association， addressed in his speech that CV aims at constantly promoting the industrial green and sustainable development level， and hopes every member can become a responsible enterprise， and this requires all members to do something in purchasing sources of raw materials， processing process and product attributes. In fact， it is also the hope of the industry that the scale effect of CV can better drive linkage of the downstream and upstream industries to jointly promote green development of the industrial chain. At the same time， “seeking common ground while shelving around difference” is also needed on the path of sustainable development. CV has formulated and published the “CV Roadmap” and set up sustainable development goals for the future. However， because of imbalance of sustainable development， companies have been confronted with various practical problems. Therefore， CV is anticipating joining of more companies and it also gives freedom to members to withdraw therefrom at any time. After one year of concerted efforts， members of CV have been found with none environmental protection incidents. On the contrary， more and more members have reached the Level-1 clean production， and started using the international third-party standards to assess every aspect of them.

“CV is an open organization. Its concept is to improve the industry-wide green and sustainable devel-opment level. On the whole， transparency is the basis for all work. CV welcomes all stakeholders to keep close eyes on its work and make continuous contribution to the construction goal of ‘green mountains and clean waters，” said Duan Xiaoping.

As a CV social responsibility and relationship representative， Yan Yan， Director of Social Responsibility Office of China National Textile and Apparel Council， introduced the key content of the CV sustainable development report of 2018.

The report disclosed nine core performance indexes （two economic indexes， three environmental indexes and four social indexes） on three dimensions （society， economy and environment）. In order to ensure subjectivity of this report， the third-party institution， TUV， has been introduced to verify its feasibility. This report also compared the “Renewable Cellulose Fiber （Viscose） Clean Manufacturing Evaluation Index System （China）” with the EU-BAT （Best Applicable Techniques）， and the comparison results suggested： on the one hand， the characteristic index value setting of the two sets of standards shows a high degree of overlapping， meaning that the global community has reached a basic consensus on the industrial environmental performance management； on the other hand， requirements of key indexes of these two sets of standards are high in consistency， meaning that the sustainable development performance required by CV has achieved consistency with the international standards.

Following the issuance of the first sustainable development report， CV will further strengthen the society-wide information disclosure， work hard to improve its industrial transparency， enhance communication with stakeholders， and promote multiparty joint governance.

“In order to improve the horizontal comparability of CV members corporate data， CV has started drawing up statistical standards （CV Methodology）； in order to ensure consistency with requirements of sustainable development， CV is consulting stakeholders for opinions to compile the ‘CV Roadmap 2025， which can clarify the next-stage objectives for the industrys sustainable development. At the same time， CV has started examining the industrys carbon emissions from a higher dimension， and would head towards the objectives specified in the “Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action”of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change （UNFCC）. Besides， CV is vigorously promoting the response of upstream and downstream enterprises to the action initiative of “Promising Responsibilities for Nature： From Forests to Fashion” responsible renewable cellulose fiber industrial chain. We hope that the cross-industrialchain cooperation can minimize the environmental influence of cellulose fibers throughout its life cycle，” said Yan Yan.

Expanding the downstream of the industrial chain Developing cotton textile members for CV

Regenerated cellulose fibers are one of the most important raw materials for textile industries. In particular， regenerated cellulose staple fibers have found wide applications in textile enterprises to develop a great variety of yarns for apparels and home textiles.

So far， there have been 142 cotton textile enterprises responding to the action initiative of “Promising Responsibilities for Nature： From Forests to Fashion”. On the release conference， CV organized the awarding ceremony for cotton textile members， including Bazhou Jinfu Specialized Yarn Industry Co.， Ltd.， Bofang Textile Co.， Ltd.， Dezhou Hengfeng Group Co.， Ltd.， Jiangsu Dasheng Group Co.， Ltd.， Suzhou Pulutong Textile Technology Co.， Ltd.， Xinhuayuan Textile Co.， Ltd.， Xinjiang Fulizhenlun Textile Co.， Ltd.， etc. All this suggests that CV starts its downstream expansion on the industrial chain.

Zhu Beina， President of China Cotton Textile Association， says development of the regenerated cellulose fiber industry has a close bearing on the cotton textile industry. Existence and development of the former have enriched the raw material selection of the latter， and promoted product development and international competitiveness improvement of the cotton textile industry. In the future， with the further expansion of the regenerated cellulose fiber output and species， the cotton textile industry and the regenerated cellulose fiber industry will be increasingly closely interconnected. As CV further promotes the industrys sustainable development， the regenerated cellulose fiber industry can also realize its green development， thus greatly reducing manufacturing costs and creating more business value for relevant enterprises.

“To promise responsibilities for nature requires an interconnection of all industrial chains involved from the upstream raw materials to terminal textile products. The sustainable value of every article of garment cannot be separated from the promises and responsibilities of every link in the industrial chain. In 2018 when CV was just founded， China Cotton Textile Association was one of the founding members. With the development of CV， the concept of green and sustainable development has been recognized by an increasing number of cotton textile enterprises. We hope that the cotton textile enterprises joining CV can set a good example for the whole industry， and pass down the sustainable development concept to the downstream. We also hope that our joint efforts and honoring of promises to nature can acquire recognition of CVs development concept from more enterprises，” said Zhu Beina.

Fashion shows with numerous highlights Demonstrating the charm of regenerated cellulose fiber applications

Regenerated cellulose fiber is a kind of fiber which is made with the natural cellulose （such as cotton linter， wood chip， linen， and bamboo） as the raw material， and through a series of chemical and physical changes， and spinning. The microscopic structure of fibers is similar to that of cottons. Use of 100% purely-natural raw materials can ensure natural biodegradation， no product additives， no pollution caused by heavy medals or hazardous chemicals， etc. Meanwhile， products made up of the raw materials are more friendly to human skin and irritation-free， and demonstrate good moisture absorption， breathability and comfortability. So far， it has been the second largest species of chemical fibers in the world. Fabrics made up of regenerated cellulose fibers are skin-friendly， soft， and favorable in drooping. The technological advances of the industry have promoted extensive applications of regenerated cellulose fibers to downstream apparel， home textile and industrial fields in recent years， leading a rapid growth of demand.

Currently， global production sites of regenerated cellulose fibers are mainly distributed in Austria， Germany， China， India and Indonesia. Among them， China is the largest manufacturer and consumer of regenerated cellulose fibers. Statistics show that the output of Chinas regenerated cellulose staple fibers would reach 3.66 million tons in 2018， exceeding the global total by two thirds. Among the top ten of the global regenerated cellulose manufacturers （ranked by income and sales volume）， 80% are Chinese enterprises， and the remaining enterprises have set up their plants in China for production. All this suffices to show the important influence of the development of Chinas regenerated cellulose fiber industry on the global regenerated cellulose fiber industry.

However， both the regenerated cellulose fibers and the multi-species yarns made with regenerated cellulose fibers as the raw materials will finally gain applications in the terminal retail products. Only when raw materials and yarns achieving extensive applications can sustainable market competitiveness be achieved. In order to show the charm of regenerated cellulose fibers and applications of their yarns to terminal products， this release show also put on a fashion show.

This release conference was jointly presented by Liu Jia， one of“Chinas Top Ten Fashion Designers” and founder of the parent-child brand， COMME TU ES， together with Tangshan Sanyou Group and CV. The bright pink mens business suit with a single button， the purely-white womens knee-high lace skirt， the long skirt and double-row-button business suit with a combination of colors （light pink， naked pink， lake blue， and light blue）， the loose womens leisure wear for spring and autumn， childrens knitwear， coat， pants， and miniskirt… All these works were delivering a strong message to the industry： Regenerated cellulose fibers have realized high marketization in enriching applications of apparel products， but there is still a large room for their further development. At the end of the release conference， Liu Jia was conferred with the honor of“Green Development Ambassador”.

On the whole， with the deepening of multi-stakeholder joint governance， industrial transparency， technological development， and satisfaction of downstream market demands by a great variety of differentiated products， we have every reason to believe that Chinas cellulose fiber industry will embrace a brighter future.