“Sustainability Reporting in China: The Rise of CSR and ESG Reporting by Businesses”, 28 July 2020

… According to a report released by the Climate Disclosure Standards Board, the number of companies that produce sustainability reports on a regular basis in China increased exponentially over a 10-year period, rising from 19 in 2006 to 3,040 in 2016.

Although non-financial disclosures are still mostly voluntary for the private sector within China, businesses are finding that as concerns for sustainability grow, there is mounting demand from customers and investors for disclosure of their business’ impact…

… China’s Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has requirements for listed companies on the disclosure of social responsibility-related information and some local authorities, such as those in Shanghai and Shenzhen, have also issued guidance on corporate sustainable development and social responsibility.

… in July 2020, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange announced introduced a series of even more stringent requirements…

In addition, the importance of reporting environmental, social, and governance risks is steadily growing in China. In fact, mandatory ESG disclosure is on its way for all listed companies in China.

According to the CSRC, this was expected to come into force by 2020 – however with the advent of the COVID-19 outbreak, this may be pushed back to a later date…

The most commonly used and globally recognized reporting style is the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Standard, modeled after the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). This has become increasingly popular in China with large companies, such as China Mobile and BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd, now using the Simplified Chinese translation of the GRI standards released in 2018…

For China, sustainability reporting remains an important entry point to implementing its 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, which was first introduced in 2016…