Baidu Releases 2021 ESG Report, Betting on a Greener Future

Chinese technology company Baidu released its 2021 ESG report on Monday, detailing its ESG performance in 2021 in key areas including green products and solutions, corporate governance, trust building, talent nurturing, service improvement and society philanthropy.

According to Ms. Meng Liu, Head of China Liaison Office of United Nations Global Compact, Chinese companies are playing an increasingly important role in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In 2021, Baidu announced the goal of achieving carbon neutrality at the group level by 2030 and working with partners to achieve “zero-carbon growth” with AI. Several major developments towards this goal have been made so far, including smart traffic for reduced emissions, harnessing clean power for data centers, and incorporating resource conservation for a greener office.

Baidu has also been leading efforts to encourage a more inclusive and vibrant AI development community. As of 2021, Baidu has led 21 open-source organizations and more than 1,000 open-source projects on Github, with more than 18,000 community contributors and more than 370,000 stars gained.

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Regarding diversity and inclusiveness, Baidu is a firm believer in gender equality, ensuring equal access to employment opportunities for female staff, strictly abiding by the principle of equal pay for equal work. In 2021, women accounted for 43.2% of Baidu’s management team.

“Over the past year, we have continuously explored the ESG value in corporate governance, pursuing the new ‘intersection’ of ESG value with an innovation-driven engine, as well as fulfilling our commitments to the environment and society,” said Robin Li, Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Baidu. “We have every confidence to achieve ‘dual carbon’ goals, which are demanding commitments.”