On May 25, 2025, at the UN Global Compact (UNGC)’s Inaugural Global Business Summit in Jakarta, a total of 24 global leading solar companies including JA Solar, Jinko Solar, Tongwei, LONGi, GCL Group and other core upstream suppliers, collectively released the initiative for “Global Solar Sustainable Alliance (GSSA)”.
Distinguished leaders across government, industry and academia attended the summit, including United Nations Global Compact Assistant Secretary-General and CEO Sanda Ojiambo, United Nations Resident Coordinator in China Siddharth Chatterjee , Chairman of the National Economic Council of the Republic of Indonesia H.E. Luhut B. Pandjaitan, Founder and co chairman of Bridgewater Associates Ray Dalio, President of the China Electricity Council Bao’an Xin, Chairman of Xiamen Airlines Dong Zhao, Founder and Chairman of GCL Gongshan Zhu.
At this critical juncture of global energy transition, the solar industry, as a cornerstone of renewable energy, serves as a pivotal solution to combat climate change and achieve carbon neutrality goals. Amid rapid industry growth, leading enterprises have jointly launched this initiative to address social and environmental challenges and advance sustainable development. Committed to delivering clean energy globally, the Initiative aims to strengthen sustainability across the entire value chain — promoting green mineral sourcing from the source, protecting ecosystems and biodiversity, building an equitable society for common good, and driving inclusive growth.
Aligned with the UNGC Ten Principles and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Initiative outlines 9 actionable pathways across three pillars, advancing ESG progress across the solar value chain and promoting its positive impact on the international market.
The GSSA initiative has garnered strong endorsement from the UNGC. Meng Liu, UNGC China Representative, stated: “We commend the global solar industry, particularly Chinese photovoltaic enterprises, for their contributions to advancing the global energy transition, and we welcome the launch of this initiative. Closely aligned with the principles of the United Nations Global Compact, the Initiative underscores corporate responsibilities in environmental protection, human rights safeguards, and sound governance. We look forward to the solar industry setting an exemplary model for global sustainable development through collective action.”
Jing Li, Vice President of Branding and Sustainability Officer of JA Solar, officially launched this GSSA Initiative at the event, and introduced JA Solar’s newly constructed responsible supply chain strategy with the theme of “Together Towards Tomorrow”, which aims to promote the multi-stakeholders along the industry’s value chain to evolve towards a sustainable future.
UNGC encourages more solar companies and supply chain partners to join this initiative and jointly advance the sustainable development of the industry. To truly fulfill the summit’s vision of ‘Better Business, Better World: Accelerating the SDGs’, the first co-signatories pledge to collaboratively develop a concrete action roadmap with stakeholder engagement, to ensure effective implementation of the Initiative.
Appendix : Global Solar Sustainable Alliance (GSSA)
As the backbone of renewable energy, the global solar sector provides consumers, industries, and society with affordable and reliable clean energy. It has made remarkable contributions to advancing global energy transition and promoting sustainable development, with immense potential yet to be realized.
On the other hand, after decades of growth, the social and environmental footprints of the solar industry, particularly the associated risks across its supply chain—have increasingly emerged. These challenges pose significant obstacles to unleashing the industry’s full potential and achieving its own sustainable development.
In light of this, we, as the undersigned photovoltaic enterprises and supply chain participants, guided by the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), hereby launch the Global Solar Sustainable Alliance (GSSA). We call on all companies in the industry and its supply chains to adopt sustainability principles and strategies, and actively undertake the following actions:
I. Just Transition: Safeguarding the green ecosystems and environment
a) Reduce pollution, conserve resources, improve environmental management, implement clean production, and promote a circular economy.
b) Cut energy consumption and carbon emissions, adapt to climate change, establish science-based greenhouse gas reduction targets, and achieve net-zero emissions as soon as possible.
c) Protect biodiversity and ecosystems, promoting green mining from origins of materials, ensuring zero deforestation and no net loss of biodiversity.
II. People-Centric Development: Building an Equitable Society for Common Good
a) Respect and protect workers’ fundamental rights, create gender-responsive, diverse, inclusive, safe, and healthy workplaces, and enhance employees’ skills and development potential.
b) Advance responsible procurement and marketing practices, implement human rights due diligence in supply chains, improve value chain transparency, traceability, and collaborative mechanisms, and strengthen supply chain resilience.
c) Plan PV projects in alignment with local conditions, respect the rights of communities and residents, and leverage industry expertise to support community and social development.
III. Governance Enhancement: Driving Inclusive Growth
a) Optimize corporate governance structures, enhance professionalism and diversity in governance mechanisms, improve investor relations management, and protect the rights of minority shareholders.
b) Operate with integrity and compliance, oppose all forms of unfair competition practices, proactively uphold a sound market order, and foster the healthy development of the industry.
c) Strengthen internal and external oversight systems, conduct standardized information disclosure and regular tracking of progress and targets, and establish multi-channel stakeholder engagement and dialogue mechanisms.
Building on the above consensus, we will pool wisdom and resources, engage in full collaboration, and establish a concrete action roadmap with the participation and support of multi-stakeholders to ensure the effective implementation of the GSSA Initiative.
