The 3rd ESG Global Leaders Conference was held at the Greenland Bund Center in Huangpu District, Shanghai from September 13 to 15. The theme of the conference was "Sustainable Economic Growth, Social Development and Environmental Protection". The conference was hosted by Sina Finance and CITIC Publishing Group, co-hosted by Lao Fengxiang, and specially supported by Shanghai Municipal Economic and Information Commission and Shanghai Huangpu District People's Government. Yan Yan, Chairman of China Chengxin International Credit Rating Co., Ltd. and Chairman of CCXGF International Co., Ltd., delivered a speech entitled "Strengthening the ESG Concept and Creating a New Situation for China's High-Quality Development".
The following is the full text of Chairman Yan Yan’s speech:
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With the increasingly significant trend of global climate change, green and sustainable development have become important issues of global concern. ESG, as an investment concept and evaluation standard that focuses on corporate environmental protection, social responsibility, and corporate governance performance, has gradually become an important factor in global economic development. Mainstream trends. China's 14th Five-Year Plan emphasizes the in-depth implementation of sustainable development strategies and leading high-quality economic development. In the current context, practicing ESG concepts and helping to achieve China's response to climate change, carbon peaking, and carbon neutrality goals are not only the social responsibilities of enterprises, but also the inherent requirements for sustainable development of enterprises. It is also the first step to grasp the green and low-carbon development. huge opportunity for the machine.
Compared with the mature ESG systems in developed countries, my country's ESG market started late. Under the guidance of the new development concepts of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing, China's ESG is booming and showing the following trends:
1. ESG institutional system continues to improve
Top-down policy promotion is an important driving force for the development of ESG in China. In January 2022, the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges respectively updated the "Listing Rules" and included relevant content on corporate social responsibility for the first time. In April 2022, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued the "Guidelines for Investor Relations Management of Listed Companies", which included ESG information as an important part of investor relations management. In May 2022, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council issued the "Work Plan for Improving the Quality of Central Enterprises Holding Listed Companies", which explicitly required central enterprises to disclose ESG reports and strive to achieve full coverage by 2023. In July 2023, the SASAC issued the " Research on the Preparation of ESG Special Reports for Central Enterprises Holding Listed Companies " to further standardize the ESG information disclosure work of central enterprises holding listed companies. The constantly improving ESG information disclosure system has become the cornerstone of the high-quality development of listed companies.
2. The transparency of ESG information disclosure by listed companies continues to improve
Chinese regulatory agencies continue to strengthen information disclosure by listed companies. For example, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange has put forward mandatory ESG information disclosure requirements for sample companies of the "Shenzhen 100 Index" and the Shanghai Stock Exchange has put forward mandatory ESG information disclosure requirements for sample companies of the "Science and Technology Innovation 50 Index". In this context, according to statistics from CCXGF, in 2022, more than 1,700 A-share listed companies independently prepared and published ESG reports, accounting for 34.8%, which is 3.90 percentage points higher than the previous year's report, and the proportion of ESG information disclosure by listed companies has further increased.
3. ESG investment concepts and practices are gradually emerging
ESG investment is gradually emerging in China. Leading asset management institutions have taken ESG investment as their core strategy and integrated it into their asset management business processes. The ESG investment concept is increasingly recognized by institutional investors. In recent years, the issuance of ESG-themed financial products in China has accelerated significantly. Taking public funds as an example, as of May 2023, there are 368 ESG-related public fund products with an overall scale of 444.68 billion yuan, an increase of 10.06 billion yuan from the 36 new products issued at the end of 2022. The ESG index is showing a rapid development momentum, with nearly 30 ESG indexes released. Taking the Shell Finance China Chengxin Beautiful China ESG Index as an example, it outperforms the overall equity market performance in terms of yield, maximum drawdown, volatility and other indicators.
As the ESG concept develops, environmental protection and energy conservation are incorporated into the daily operation and management of enterprises; stakeholders' increasing attention to ESG constantly urges enterprises to shift from pursuing profit maximization to pursuing sustainable growth, and ESG has become an inherent requirement for the high-quality development of enterprises. ESG helps enterprises achieve high-quality development, mainly in the following aspects.
1. Improving corporate governance capabilities
A sound corporate governance structure not only requires that a company's operations comply with laws and regulations, but also that it cares about the interests of shareholders, promotes environmental protection, fair competition, protects the rights and interests of investors, and enhances the trust of consumers, investors and other stakeholders in the company.
2. Strengthening corporate ESG risk management
Identifying environmental, social and governance-related risk factors, establishing an ESG risk list and formulating corresponding risk response measures can effectively avoid or reduce the impact of ESG risks on corporate operating risks and future financial losses, and promote the long-term sustainable development of the company.
3. Reduce corporate financing costs
As financial institutions gradually incorporate ESG performance into management processes and comprehensive risk management systems, companies that practice ESG concepts can obtain more financing incentives and reduce financing costs.
China Chengxin International adheres to the social responsibility concept of "originating from society and giving back to society", promotes the further integration of sustainable development strategy and corporate business strategy, and plays a greater role in the economic, social and environmental fields while achieving its own healthy and sustainable development. Its subsidiaries, CCXGF and CCXGF International, as professional sustainable development service agencies, independently developed and launched the ESG system analysis tool, the ESG-Ratings platform. The platform is based on the ESG rating model, relying on the ESG data of listed companies and bond issuers, and through the ESG intelligent rating of listed companies and bond issuers, it realizes multi-dimensional ESG rating data services for different strategic investment needs. At present, the database covers more than 12,000 companies including all A-share listed companies, Chinese-funded Hong Kong-listed companies and bond issuers. Provide comprehensive ESG reporting and certification, ESG rating and rating improvement solutions for enterprises; provide ESG rating and sustainable development services such as environmental and climate risk assessment and stress testing for financial institutions.
Looking into the future, China Credit Rating will continue to contribute more to the development of ESG in my country with its professional capabilities, high-quality services and innovative spirit!
