In recent years, environmental protection and sustainable development have gained substantial recognition in China. The environment, the society and corporations have become increasingly interdependent under the new norm of China’s economy. Greater challenges are posed against the government’s capacity. When talking about the environment, the society and corporations, the first thing comes to people’s minds is usually the great efforts lead by the government to tackle pollution. From now on, however, supervisory institutions may not be the only link in common for those three with the help from Landsea ESG Development Index.
Caixin Media, SynTao Green Finance, BBD and their strategic partner Landsea Group co-hosted the “New Value · New Responsibility”Landsea ESG Development Index Forum in Beijing on September 6th, 2017. The Landsea ESG Development Index (ESGDI）was launched with the first periodical report (trial version) on its performance for January to July 2017.
At the Forum
Huang Shan， Associate Managing Editor of Caixin Media
Huang Shan, Associate Managing Editor of Caixin Media, states that Caixin Media, SynTao Green Finance and BBD co-launched ESGDI, the first macro level ESG development index for China based on big data, and plan to develop industry-level sub-indices, as well as ESG ratings for listed companies in domestic A share market, in order to assist the policy making of government and the investment decision of investors.
Guo Peiyuan， the Chairman of SynTao Green Finance
Guo Peiyuan, the Chairman of SynTao Green Finance, points out that ESGDI is designed according to cutting-edge concepts in green finance. It also practically utilized public data to facilitate green finance and responsible investments. The index will become the wind vane for China’s ESG development at a macro level.
Chen Dong, Co-founder and CEO of BBD
Chen Dong, Co-founder and CEO of BBD, states that BBD operates one of the best big data monitoring platform in China. The “data + experts+ brand + industry leaders” cooperative model that ESGDI is created by coincides with many corporations’ preference.
Tian Ming, CEO of Landsea Group
Tian Ming, CEO of Landsea Group, believes that the influence of ESGDI will increase in the future. This index expresses Landsea Group’s willingness to undertake environmental and social responsibilities together with its cooperative partners.
Wang Jianzhou, Chairman of the China Association for Public Companies
Wang Jianzhou, Chairman of the China Association for Public Companies, expresses his hope for institutional investors to further incorporate ESG factors into investment analyses and decisions.
Chen Kai, Head of MSCI China Business
Chen Kai, Head of MSCI China Business, says that ESG factors have significant impact on financial gains as proven by recent research. The positive feedback chain based on ESG data will change the capital market’s practice in value assessment.
Chen Qin, Chief Economist of BBD
Chen Qin, Chief Economist of BBD introduces the methodology of ESGDI that uses public big data to quantify the current situation of ESG development at a macro level. The index provides non-financial reference for policy makers and investors.
Representatives from Noah Holdings, Coca Cola, CIB Research, SynTao Green Finance and Visionwe participated in the “China’s Practices in ESG Responsible Investment“ roundtable discussion.
Launch of the Landsea·ESG Development Index (ESGDI)
ESGDI is distinct from traditional ESG indices because it reflects the macro ESG development instead of tracking ESG performance of individual companies. ESGDI’s indicator system is divided into three primary criteria that are environmental, social and governance. Those are further divided into second level and third level indicators. Environmental indicators focus on environmental protection policy, environmental risk, and the development of green industries. Social indicators examine product quality, production safety, labor issues and poverty alleviation. Governance indicators measures corporate governance structure and information transparency.
The first trail report takes January 2017 and 100 as the base time and value, and computes the indices from January to July as 100.00, 99.93, 103.79, 104.00, 109.17, 107.12 and 115.26. The result indicates that the ESG situation of China is developing in a positive trend despite small fluctuations.
This article is translated and edited from article published by Caixin