SHANGHAI, June 9, 2022
/PRNewswire/ -- ATRenew Inc. ("ATRenew" or the "Company")
(NYSE: RERE), a leading technology-driven pre-owned consumer
electronics transactions and services platform in China, today released its second annual
environmental, social, and governance ("ESG") report (the
"Report"), incorporating the Task Force on Climate-related
Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations, a framework set by
the G20's Financial Stability Board, for the first time. In the
Report, the Company explores the climate-change-related
opportunities and challenges it faces in its operation and reuse of
pre-owned electronic devices through the perspectives of
governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets.
ATRenew is proactively responding to the Chinese government's peak
carbon emissions and carbon neutrality goals by further integrating
environmental and social responsibility into its commercial
agenda.
The Report integrates the United Nations' Sustainable
Development Goals, refers to recommendations from international
indices and ESG rating agencies, and provides updates on 20
material ESG issues. ATRenew has included "product governance" and
"corporate governance" in its portfolio of high materiality ESG
issues, further addressing topics of interest to both internal and
external stakeholders.
For the first time, the Report quantifies the climate impact of
the pre-owned cellphone industry from the recycle and reuse
perspectives. The Report also reveals ATRenew's progress towards
its sustainable development goals in the following ways. First, the
Company contributed 464,000 metric tons of green-house gas emission
reductions through the reuse of pre-owned mobile phones during
2021. Second, it further improved grading, inspection, and
after-sales systems for pre-owned electronic devices. Third, the
Company removed subjectivity from human inspection by refining its
automatic inspection technology. Fourth, ATRenew contributed to a
more transparent, standardized, and professional pre-owned
electronic industry through its leading quality-control system.
Highlights of the Report:
Focus on green development, improvement of mass quality
inspection efficiency, and reduction of emissions.
ATRenew has further developed its electronic device recycling
and transaction infrastructure. During 2021, the Company executed
its city-level service integration strategy and successfully
integrated its C2B, B2B, and B2C business offerings into one
business level in a city-based unit. By doing so, ATRenew brought
its quality inspection and service capabilities to local services
while fully utilizing its competitive advantage of a closed-loop
value chain. A large-scale quality inspection operation network was
created with seven operation centers and 95 city-level operation
stations. This network not only enabled 31.2 million pre-owned
product transactions during 2021, but also formed a stable supply
chain by leveraging collaborative resource allocation for quality
inspection and fulfillment. The stable supply chain that the
Company has constructed provides effective resilience in the event
that regional operations are interrupted.
ATRenew, as a public company, has pioneered the utilization of
Life Cycle Assessment in the second-hand industry. By analyzing the
average reduction in carbon emissions resulting from its successful
re-commercialization of each pre-owned mobile phone, ATRenew is
able to effectively quantify its green-house gas emission
reductions.
In addition, the Company leverages the Circular Footprint
Formula for the first time to disclose its contribution of 464,000
metric tons of green-house gas emission reductions through the reuse of pre-owned mobile phones
in 2021. From a long-term perspective, ATRenew is dedicated to
prolonging the life cycle of ever more products so as to reduce
carbon emissions while fulfilling consumers' demand for
high-quality electronic products. In line with the Chinese
government's guidance for developing a circular economy, ATRenew
leads the second-hand industry in setting benchmarks to achieve
peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality goals.
Adhere to technological innovation and upgrade quality and
risk control systems to ensure standardized development.
ATRenew is committed to long-term investment in technological
advancement and innovation while continuing to improve its
technology-based quality control capabilities. During 2021, Matrix
2.0, an automated quality inspection system, was launched at the
Company's operation center in Changzhou. ATRenew upgraded the operation
center's semi-automated quality inspection process, which partially
relied on subjective human judgment, to a new fully-automated
system, further minimizing human error. During the first half of
2022, ATRenew developed 'Camera Box 2.0', which it used to upgrade
its Dongguan automated operation
center by improving quality control on non-standard products.
ATRenew is increasing its investment in the digitalization of
its risk control platform. The Company protects the rights of
merchants and users by fostering a safe operating environment. This
is done through utilizing risk assessment, risk alert, risk
management, and other modules embedded on its platform to prevent
and control risk factors, such as unusual transactions and
high-risk merchants.
Continue to develop digital intelligence and empower small-
and medium-sized merchants to gain mutual benefits in the pre-owned
consumer electronic ecosystem.
ATRenew is developing an integrated open platform while
providing inspection standards and technology for participants in
the communications and second-hand industries. Quality inspection
standards created by the Company for pre-owned electronic devices
have already been recognized by over 300,000 merchants within the
industry. ATRenew's self-developed smart quality inspection tool
"Device Hero" has helped small- and medium-sized merchants to
improve the standardization of their inspection process and
results.
PJT marketplace, ATRenew's B2B offering, upgraded its digital
and intelligent transaction tools to facilitate and optimize
merchants' operations. It helped to build a more mutually
beneficial industry by launching its 'PJT Instant Sales' service, a
'Nearby' tag, and a smart account management module to
intelligently bring convenience to merchants when sourcing goods
and managing their inventory and account balance.
Always put people first, fulfill social responsibilities, and
build a better society.
ATRenew firmly believes that its employees are the core driver
of its business development. The Company always puts people first,
and maintains a constant focus on employee health and safety,
rights and benefits, and training and career development. ATRenew
continuously optimizes its incentive system and welfare policies as
part of its people-centric focus. It enhances employee's wellbeing
and their sense of belonging by providing them with various
dialogue channels through which they can provide feedback to the
Company. During the recent resurgence of Covid-19, ATRenew
prioritized workplace safety, and supplied daily necessities to
those employees quarantined in Shanghai, giving them extra peace of mind
during difficult times.
ATRenew proactively fulfills its social responsibilities and is
dedicated to supporting charity work such as constructing
communities, disaster relief, education provision, and more.
Partnering with the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation,
ATRenew donated RMB5.05 million to
schools in Zhengzhou that had been
affected by flooding in 2021 and delivered sanitized pre-owned
clothing to children in charitable schools in Qinghai. During 2022, the Company also donated
anti-COVID medical supplies and pre-owned cell phones to be used as
PCR testing devices in Shanghai.
In addition, ATRenew participated in a charitable program to
protect biodiversity by helping animals such as the East Asian
finless porpoise, an endangered subspecies of dolphin. To empower
the development of sustainability, ATRenew also partnered with many
well-known consumer brands to spread the philosophy of low-carbon
green consumption and promote recycling of electronics as a new
social trend.
Mr. Kerry Xuefeng Chen, Founder
and Chief Executive Officer of ATRenew, commented, "Our 2021 ESG
report adopted the TCFD framework for the first time, laying the
groundwork for the development of emission reduction targets and
systematic action plans to reduce carbon emissions. During the
process of compiling the report, we deepened our understanding of
ESG and sustainable development of the industry by communicating
with a variety of different stakeholders. On the one hand, if a
company's business model is environmentally and socially friendly,
the company will naturally contribute more to society and have a
governance framework that is consistent with national economic
policies. Because of this, it will also face less political risk.
On the other hand, a company with a sound corporate governance
system will invest more in product quality control, supply chain
management, and risk mitigation when compared to its peers. If
companies have similar financial performances, then the company
that invests more in the aforementioned areas will outperform its
peers, in terms of having a higher safety margin. Therefore, we
believe that the development of the pre-owned electronic devices
transaction and services industry is in sync with the Chinese
government's development of a circular economy and its peak carbon
emissions and carbon neutrality goals. We are committed to
improving our business operations and upgrading our ESG performance
while creating long-term value for consumers, merchants, our
partners within the circular economy ecosystem, and our
shareholders."
The Company looks forward to using its influence in the supply
chain to impact more business partners and industry participants to
jointly promote the sustainable development of the pre-owned
consumer electronics industry.
To view the report in full, please visit
https://www.atrenew.com/2021_ESG_Report_EN.pdf. The Company
welcomes comments and questions through email: ir@atrenew.com.
About ATRenew Inc.
Headquartered in Shanghai,
ATRenew Inc. operates a leading technology-driven pre-owned
consumer electronics transactions and services platform in
China under the brand ATRenew.
Since its inception in 2011, ATRenew has been on a mission to give
a second life to all idle goods, addressing the environmental
impact of pre-owned consumer electronics by facilitating recycling
and trade-in services, and distributing the devices to prolong
their lifecycle. ATRenew's open platform integrates C2B, B2B, and
B2C capabilities to empower its online and offline services.
Through its end-to-end coverage of the entire value chain and its
proprietary inspection, grading, and pricing technologies, ATRenew
sets the standard for China's
pre-owned consumer electronics industry.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains statements that may constitute
"forward-looking" statements pursuant to the "safe harbor"
provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by
terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "aims,"
"future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "likely to"
and similar statements. Among other things, quotations in this
announcement, contain forward-looking statements. ATRenew may also
make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic
reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"),
in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other
written materials and in oral statements made by its officers,
directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not
historical facts, including statements about ATRenew's beliefs,
plans and expectations, are forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and
uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to
differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking
statement, including but not limited to the following: ATRenew's
strategies; ATRenew's future business development, financial
condition and results of operations; ATRenew's ability to maintain
its relationship with major strategic investors; its ability to
provide facilitate pre-owned consumer electronics transactions and
provide relevant services; its ability to maintain and enhance the
recognition and reputation of its brand; general economic and
business conditions globally and in China and assumptions underlying or related to
any of the foregoing. Further information regarding these and other
risks is included in ATRenew's filings with the SEC. All
information provided in this press release is as of the date of
this press release, and ATRenew does not undertake any obligation
to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under
applicable law.
Investor Relations Contact
In China:
ATRenew Inc.
Investor Relations
Email: ir@atrenew.com
In the United States:
ICR, LLC.
Email: atrenew@icrinc.com
Tel: +1-212-537-0461
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SOURCE ATRenew Inc.
