London, UK, 24 April 2025 — Xiaomi Corporation (“Xiaomi” or the “Group”) today released its seventh annual Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report for 2024, which again demonstrates its commitment to sustainability driven by its foundational core technologies. The report details Xiaomi’s leadership in accessibility of technology, climate-change mitigation and adaptation, and recycling and reuse.
Leadership of Foundational Core Technologies
Xiaomi introduced its new strategy for sustainable development driven by its foundational core technologies at the 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in November 2024. It has placed greater emphasis on inclusive products and technology equality and on the “Human x Car x Home” ecosystem strategy to provide consumers with a sustainable, smart lifestyle.
In 2024, Xiaomi’s annual R&D investment reached RMB24.1 billion, and its patents filed globally exceeded 42,000. Its R&D team of 21,190 employees made up 48.5 percent of the total workforce. Over the first five years in the decade of 2020 to 2030, its cumulative R&D investment is expected to exceed RMB100 billion.
Xiaomi Smart Factory and Xiaomi EV Factory went into operation last year. They use industrial internet and AI technologies to achieve efficient, environmentally friendly, and sustainable production.
Xiaomi’s self-developed hardware and software, together with other technologies, enabled flexible production lines, automated logistics, and cloud-edge-device automation control at Xiaomi Smart Factory. As a result, the factory has an automation rate of 81 percent in its production lines, far surpassing the industry average.
Accessibility of Technology
Xiaomi is committed to creating an equal and inclusive digital experience for every user, including individuals with special needs. In 2024, it continued to enhance its comprehensive accessibility support. Focusing on key user groups such as individuals with visual impairments, hearing impairments, and physical disabilities, it introduced text extraction, real-time subtitles, and gesture-based controls.
For example, Xiaomi enhanced its TalkBack feature which is a voice assistance feature designed for blind and visually impaired individuals, and streamlined its operation by leveraging the optical character recognition (OCR) capability of the AI subsystem in Xiaomi HyperOS. This enabled accurate recognition and real-time narration of text in images and provided users with a seamless “reading” experience.
Xiaomi HyperOS 2, the latest version of Xiaomi HyperOS, has seamlessly integrated the AI Assistant’s real-time subtitle function with the Xiaomi Sound Recognition Function. The result: a high transcription accuracy rate of 93 percent.
Xiaomi also is creating elderly friendly technologies. In 2024, it partnered with several institutions to launch Showing Care for the Health and Safety of the Elderly and Promoting Elderly Friendly Retrofitting, which aims to develop standards, products, applications, and designs that improve the safety of the elderly.
Climate Mitigation and Adaptation
In addition to setting greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets for Xiaomi’s own operations, Xiaomi requires its smartphone supply chain partners to establish GHG reduction targets and renewable energy usage plans. By 2030, suppliers in the smartphone business must achieve an annual average carbon reduction of no less than 5 percent (with 2024 as the base year) and a renewable electricity usage rate of no less than 25 percent. By 2050, suppliers to Xiaomi’s smartphone business are required to reach 100 percent renewable electricity usage.
Xiaomi completed lifecycle carbon footprint measurements for 18 representative products (13 smartphone and tablet devices, 1 wearable device, and 4 smart home appliances products) by the end of 2024. It also collaborated with independent GHG accounting and certification organizations to establish a carbon footprint assessment process for its smartphone products.
Climate response measures have been implemented across all business operations covering office work, production and manufacturing, logistics and transportation, store operations, and the supply chain. Last year, Xiaomi’s business operations within its operational boundary obtained ISO 50001 Energy Management System certification and passed the annual surveillance audit.
Xiaomi also promoted sea and rail transport as alternatives to air freight. In 2024, this effort reduced the Group’s carbon emissions by 3,378 tonnes.
Recycling and Reuse
Xiaomi carries out electronic waste recycling programs worldwide and has implemented a tiered recycling approach that includes trade-ins, refurbishment, scrapping of devices and repair parts, and the internal purchase of prototypes. It plans to recycle a total of 38,000 tonnes of electronic waste over five years (2022 to 2026) and achieved 95.94 percent of this target as of the end of 2024.
Over 1.3 million used devices were recycled in the Chinese Mainland’s trade-in program. Trade-in programs were established in nine overseas countries and regions; there, 23,353 trade-in orders were processed. The Group expanded its refurbishment business to include laptops, projectors, and monitors. Last year, it refurbished more than 130,000 devices, a 4.7 percent increase over 2023.
Xiaomi also integrates recycled materials into the design and production of smartphones, smart EVs, and smart home appliances. For example, the back cover of the Xiaomi 14T incorporates a bio-based material derived from lemon residue, with half of its polyurethane sourced from bio-based raw materials. Recycled aluminum is incorporated into the die-cast middle frame of the Xiaomi 14T and recycled aluminum, gold, and copper are used to produce its acoustic components.
Xiaomi Smart Factory established a zero-waste-to-landfill management system, which integrates recycling and efficient disposal to minimize landfill use. In 2024, the factory achieved a 99.35 percent waste diversion rate (WDR) and was awarded the TÜV Rheinland Zero Waste to Landfill Management System Certificate with the highest global rating of three stars.
Xiaomi remains committed to producing exciting innovations and breakthroughs and moving fast to build a better future through its pursuit of sustainable development.
The above serves only as highlights of the 2024 ESG report. To view the full version, please click here.