adidas Wins Gold Award for Second Consecutive Year at China CSR Annual Conference (engl.)

Shanghai, 17 February 2014 – For the second consecutive year, the adidas Group China has been awarded the Social Responsibility Special Gold Award at the 2013 China CSR Annual Conference, in recognition of its success in striking a balance between business growth and social and environmental demands. adidas also won the award in 2012, but this year, the company was recognised for even greater achievements. The company’s highest scores were in customer service, tax contribution, CSR transparency and product quality management.

“As a leading sporting goods company in China, we have a responsibility to the communities in which we operate. Whether it is reducing our environmental footprint, promoting healthier lifestyles, or helping disadvantaged children develop life skills, we are committed to being a sustainable company,” said Colin Currie, Managing Director of adidas Group, Greater China. “This award reflects the great work we are doing in communities across the country.  

The China CSR Annual Conference is hosted or supported by a group of organisations including the China Foundation for Consumer Protection, the School of Social Sciences under Tsinghua University and the China Enterprise Evaluation Association. A panel of 24 judges comprising CSR experts from various associations, academic institutes and the media selected the award winners based on 10 criteria, including corporate governance and ethical values, employment and labour protection, and environmental protection and energy saving.

ADIDAS’ CSR EFFORTS IN CHINA

The adidas Group in Greater China has focused its efforts in recent years on long-term child development, with the company’s own employees taking the lead in providing their skills and experience to various initiatives. Relief efforts after the Wenchuan earthquake included programs for thousands of children to learn about and participate in sport, with dozens of adidas staff offering themselves as volunteers.

The flagship program for adidas in China is the “adidas Right to Play Child Development Program,” which targets rural child development in Shaanxi. The program already has helped numerous schools and childcare centres, contributed to teacher training and created jobs for local women. To date, adidas has helped more than 7,000 children who regularly participate in play-based development activities.

Most recently, in response to the Ya’An earthquake, adidas donated products immediately to aid in the earthquake relief and recovery efforts in the region. Beyond offering immediate relief, the adidas Group will also be employing its experience from its previous disaster reconstruction efforts to provide long-term developmental sports & play-based programs to children in the area.