China SIF, IFC and UN SSEi co-hosted a virtual webinar 2021 Sustainable Stock Exchange Roundtable on Dec 13, 2021. Experts from international organizations, stock exchanges and financial institutions shared their insights on financial instruments towards net-zero commitments. This Roundtable is a side event of 2021 China SIF Week that consisted of an annual conference and a serial of side events.
In recent years, attention to climate change in the financial market has been on the rise. Experts estimated that $125 trillion of climate investment is needed by 2050 to reach net-zero, where private investors must be involved. International institutions including TCFD reveals that climate change poses threat to the investors’ asset security and financial returns, and investors must respond to it. Both forces have driven an increase in climate change-related investments. ESG investment in the world’s largest five markets has reached $35.3 trillion by the end of 2020. However, lack of available ESG data, research gap on ESG issues, and limited experience in mobilizing capitals in the market of ESG products, still hinder the growth ESG investment worldwide. Therefore, it is crucial that the regulators, asset managers, asset owners, and the third-party service providers have focused discussions on how to take a holistic approach to integrate ESG factors into investment practice, and contribute to the global net-zero goals. These trends set the scene for the roundtable this year.
The Roundtable started with three keynote speeches, moderated by Grace Guan, Secretary General of China SIF and Deputy General Manager of SynTao Green Finance. Tiffany Grabski, Senior Specialist on Climate Reporting from UN SSEi, introduced the Action Plan to Make Markets Climate Resilient and the Model Guidance on Climate Disclosure that were recently launched. Atiyah Curmally, Principal E&S Specialist from IFC, presented IFC’s ESG integration approach for capital market, including the IFC ESG performance indicators, IFC toolkit for disclosure and transparency, and MALENA, which use AI for ESG data analysis. Guo Peiyuan, Chairman of China SIF and SynTao Green Finance, introduced PANDA database, the carbon neutrality database of China’s A-share listed companies developed by SynTao Green Finance. The database can support investors to develop carbon thematic financial products.
Yuan Wei from IFC’s Asia ESG Advisory moderated a panel discussion joined by Liu Fuzhong, Director of International Department from Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Julien Martin, Head of Emerging Business Development from Hongkong Exchange, Jonathan Ho, Sustainability Specialist from Allianz Global Investors andWilson Wei, Head of ESG Research from E Fund. The discussion focused on use of ESG data and practice of ESG investing. Liu Fuzhong highlighted the importance of exchanges' roles in facilitating the process of data and information disclosure, and mentioned that SZSE has been encouraging issuers to disclose data related to the carbon emission and sustainability, offering green products since 2016. Julien Martin shared Hong Kong Exchange’s experience on ESG reporting guides and capacity building. Jonathan Ho introduced Allianz Global Investors’ steps to improve ESG data availability for incorporation into the investment process: partnership with diverse ESG data providers, engagement with companies, propriety research at the ground level. Wilson Wei shared E Fund’s experience in ESG integration through investment research, risk and opportunity analysis and portfolio management. The panel confirms a growing momentum for ESG investing across the capital market especially driven by the climate change targets. Panelists also noted the importance of leveraging different types of ESG data.
China SIF was established in 2012 as a non-profit organization. Since its establishment, China SIF has held 9 Annual Conferences, and has collaborated with SSEi and IFC to host Sustainable Stock Exchange Roundtables for multiple times.