Daily reporter: Huang Zongyan Editor: Liang Xiao
Today (December 28), the "11th China Listed Companies Summit Forum" series of activities hosted by Daily Economic News, a mainstream financial media under Chengdu Media Group , made its grand debut. Among them, the 2022 Sixth China Listed Company Board Secretaries Summit will also be unveiled this afternoon.
This year, the theme of the China Listed Company Board Secretary Summit is " green development and harmonious coexistence". The leading ESG research think tank in China - the Green International Finance Institute of the Central University of Finance and Economics (hereinafter referred to as the Green International Finance Institute of the Central University of Finance and Economics) provides academic support. A number of board secretaries of listed companies will discuss with authoritative domestic ESG experts how to improve the ESG sustainability capabilities of Chinese listed companies. An annual feast on ESG topics is about to kick off.
ESG value: What kind of company is a good company?
At this year’s Board Secretaries Summit, in addition to Wang Yao, Dean of the Green Gold Institute of China Finance University, will deliver a keynote speech, in the "Board Secretary's Talk" session, Kaiying Network (SZ002517) Dong Secretary Qian Junfa, Shenghe Resources (SH600392) Dong Secretary Guo Xiaolei, Qing Qin Kun, secretary of the board of directors of New Environment (SZ002573), Chen Kaihong, secretary of the board of directors of Haitian Holdings (SH603759), and many other board secretaries will share ESG cases and collide with Professor Shi Yichen, senior academic consultant of China Finance Green Gold Institute and chief consultant of China Finance Green Index on the cloud to jointly explore the path of "green development and harmonious coexistence" of Chinese listed companies.
The "green development and harmonious coexistence" of listed companies means that the company needs to build a set of scientific, feasible and sustainable governance plans for the carbon emissions and environmental pollution problems that may be caused by production operations, supply chain management, daily operation and maintenance, and continue to invest and implement them. While realizing green production and operations on its own, it will work with the upstream and downstream supply chains to achieve the goal of sustainable development of and .
In this process, the tangible and intangible costs of human, material and financial resources will inevitably increase. How to strike a balance between green development and financial performance is a question that every listed company must think about.
It can be said that the ESG concept provides listed companies with a feasible solution to achieve green development, sustainable development and high-quality development. Through ESG practices, companies can demonstrate all aspects other than financial performance, that is, whether a company is environmentally friendly, fulfills its social responsibilities, is open and transparent, and has a trustworthy leadership team of directors, supervisors, and senior executives.
This is also the answer that the "Board Secretary's Talk" of this Board Secretary Summit wants to explore: What kind of company is a good company?
A company that meets the standards of various ESG dimensions may not be able to have high valuation and high market capitalization immediately; but a company that fails to meet the ESG evaluation standards will definitely not have the ability to develop in the long term, or even have investment value. Many international studies have shown that companies with high ESG ratings and good ESG performance are often directly proportional to their financial performance and are also positively related to investment returns .
Shi Yichen has previously stated that ESG has become a necessary language for international competition. He believes that ESG will bring opportunities to companies as they go global. For example, for science and technology innovation board companies, if they want to gain more international capital attention or become part of the international supply chain, improving their ESG capabilities and performance can bring greater competitiveness to the company.
ESG path: How to improve the sustainable development capabilities of listed companies? How does
become a good company? What experiences can ESG provide? This is also a topic that the “Board Secretary’s Talk” of this Board Secretary Summit wants to explore in depth. After all, after the company has eliminated the problem of "whether to do it or not", the next step is to focus on "how to do it". For listed companies, at least a few key questions must be answered.
First of all, whether it has clear ESG strategic goals and a correspondingly complete management structure reflects the listed company's attitude and determination to practice ESG, and also reflects the listed company's ideas and plans for practicing ESG. So, what is the most critical thing for companies to implement ESG strategies?
Secondly, the ESG rating given by , a third-party rating agency, is also very important.However, there are currently many international and domestic ESG rating agencies with various standards. How do Chinese listed companies participate and respond?
Third, ESG reports are a report card for companies to display ESG results and performance to the outside world, but there is currently a lack of unified format and standards for disclosure. What data and content must be disclosed? How should disclosure standards be set?
Behind the above issues are all related to a complex system and methodology, which requires the joint efforts and practice of the government, listed companies, research institutions and other market participants to gradually explore a localized ESG path suitable for my country's national conditions.
Based on this, Daily Economic News hopes that through this Board Secretary Summit, listed companies can tell their ESG stories, share their ESG experiences, and jointly explore the answers. At that time, what exciting sharing and opinions will they bring, and what cutting-edge ESG trends will they reveal? You are welcome to participate in this wisdom storm with us and wait and see!
Daily Economic News
