For Elion Resources Group Co. President Wang Wenbiao, joining the United Nations Global Compact is not simply about paying membership dues, but more about fulfulling social responsibility as a Chinese enterprise. Wang, also a member of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was on hand to see his company join the organization on February 22, 2011.

"As a Chinese Communist Party (CPC) member and head of a private enterprise, I should not only look to the development of my company, but also make contribution to the public welfare undertaking, such as environmental and ecological protection," he said.

Engaging the sand

Born into a peasant family in the Inner Mongolia, Wang spent his childhood in Hobq Desert, the closest desert to Beijing with a total area of 18,600 square km. He has witnessed the disaster of sandstorms since he was a child.

In 1988, when Hangjin salt field in Hobq Desert was on the verge of closing down, then 30-year-old Wang was a secretary in Hangjin Banner Government. It was lucky enough for him, as a son of a farmer, to get such a job. But when the government selected head of the salt field, Wang, a CPC member, chose to assume the responsibility. To save the salt field, Wang borrowed 70 million yuan ($10.6 million) and built a 65 km long road through the desert. In order to protect this lifeline, he began to afforest the desert and improve the ecological environment. It was through this process that Wang found the economic value of the desert. Later he began to cultivate Chinese medicinal herbs, which are suitable to grow in the desert. This has led to the establishment of a biological pharmaceutical business, with an annual output value of 3 billion yuan ($456 million).

"Besides investing in business and engaging in a public welfare undertaking, we are also seeking to make use of the desert to develop a circular economy," Wang told ChinAfrica. In the past 20 years, Wang has invested nearly 2 billion yuan ($304 million) on green undertakings, building more than 4,000 square km of meadows and grassland, and constructing five roads through the desert, with total length up to 234 km. He has also developed the desert tourism industry and solar photovoltaic industry, which have changed the lifestyle of hundreds of thousands of local farmers and herdsmen. 

 Green vision 

"Green, recycling, clean, low-carbon" is the purpose of Wang's company. Based on this vision, after 20 years of development, Wang has turned the onetime small company, with an annual chemical product output value of over 400,000 yuan ($60,865), to the Elion Resources Group Co. of today, which has a unique circular industrial chain of clean energy and chemical products and with total assets of more than 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion).

Turning waste into treasure is the largest feature of this chain. It started from coal mining, using the solid waste discharged in the process of coal mining in generating electricity, which is then used in producing PVC resin chemical products. All the industrial waste will then be recycled and used to make eco-friendly cement. Wang said this process can save 2.5 million tons of coal, 8 million cubic meters of water and 80 million kwh of electricity each year. 

Developing a desert economy has been Wang's greatest dream. In order to achieve this goal, concept, technology and capital are all indispensable.

In terms of concept, pursuing profit in a safe and eco-friendly way has been the common belief for the 6,000 employees at Elion. Elion's performance assessment criteria include not only sales and profit, but also production safety, quality, area of afforested desert, energy saving and emission reduction.

Through years of exploring, Elion has owned the technology patent of wild and semi-wild cultivation of Chinese medicinal herbs and mastered the advanced foreign technology of sandstorm control and prevention. "We've spent 20 years to make the desert green, and now we are developing our industries on it. It's a virtuous cycle because through industrial development we not only solved the funding problem but also expanded the exploring of desert resources," Wang said. "We are operating the resources of the desert as capital, so that we can achieve both efficiency and profit."

According to the estimation of experts, China's population will reach 1.5 billion within the next two to three decades. An additional 66 million hectares of land will be needed for agriculture and urban transport development. Having battled with the desert for 20 years, Wang is optimistic. "Through our practice in Hobq, the desert can be turned green, and we can make use of it," he said.