Jack Ma — the founder, chairman and CEO of the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group — has announced that from 2010 onwards the company will earmark 0.3% of its annual revenue for environmental protection, with particular focus on water and air quality improvement.
As the first fund of its kind to established by a Chinese internet enterprise, Alibaba's environmental protection fund will be used to raise environmental awareness and conservation in China, and motivate Alibaba's customers, partners, and employees to take actions that will lead to a cleaner environment for the upcoming generations.
Following Alibaba.com, a flagship company of Alibaba Group, other member companies of Alibaba Group, including Taobao, Alipay, China Yahoo! and Alibaba Cloud Computing, will all take up a pro rata share of this commitment.
Jack Ma told local media that in addition to funding environmental programs, Alibaba will devote human resources and effort to driving the understanding of environmental issues. In addition, the company will make public welfare an index when assessing the performance of its employees. Ma added that Alibaba's target is to be a company full of sense of happiness for employees.
It is understood that Alibaba is committed to, and is participating in, environmental protection issues in China and globally. Previously, the group adopted a 100-mu forest in Xiaoshan District in Hangzhou to make it a green base. In addition, Taobao.com, a subsidiary of Alibaba which is also a member of the Climate Group, has joined hands with China Green Foundation and United Nations Environment Programme in launching an environment initiative to encourage people to plant trees to reduce carbon emission.
