The 21st ESG Investment Frontier Forum held in Beijing
On July 3, 2023, the 21st ESG Investment Frontier Forum was held in Beijing
with the theme of "Interpreting the New ISSB Standards". The forum was co-hosted
by China Development Research Foundation (CDRF) and China SIF, and co-organized
by Beijing Bozhi Economic and Social Development Institute (BESI), Syntao Green
Finance, and Syntao Consulting.
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) was launched by the
International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation (IFRS) at the end of
2021. The ISSB issued two new standards, General Requirements for Disclosure of
Sustainability-Related Financial Information (S1) and Climate-Related
Disclosures (S2) in June 2023 to enable companies to communicate to investors
about the sustainability-related risks and opportunities.
At the Forum, representatives from regulators, industry associations,
financial institutions and professional organizations discussed in depth the
impact of the two new standards on companies and investment markets in China and
globally, as well as the future development of the new ISSB standards and other
related standards. This session was moderated by Yu Jiantuo, Deputy Secretary
General of CDRF and Director of BESI.
Zhu Guangyao, former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Finance, delivered the
opening speech. He pointed out that China has played an important and
constructive role in the process of ISSB's formulation of the recent standards,
and put forward important recommendations, including enhancing the
inclusiveness, scientific basis and universality of the standard, etc. He said
that many of the recommendations put forward by China during the discussion
process had already been adopted, and some are in the process of policy
consideration and coordination. Cooperation is an important prerequisite for
advancing the development of international standards.
ISSB Member Leng Bing, delivered the keynote speech where he introduced in
detail the governance structure of ISSB, the core contents and key principles of
the two new sustainability disclosure standards, and their future adoption and
application.
Zhang Weiguo, former Board Member of IASB and Doctoral Supervisor of Tsinghua
University and Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, commented on the
new ISSB standards. He notes that several relationships that must be well
managed to enable the further development of the new ISSB standards: firstly,
the relationship between single and double materiality, investor-oriented and
multi-stakeholder-oriented; secondly, the relationship between thematic
standards and industry guidelines; thirdly, the relationship between ideal goals
and operability; fourthly, the need to take into full consideration of the
characteristics, conditions, and demands of countries with different stages of
development, political and economic systems, and cultural backgrounds; and
fifthly, how to make the new ISSB standards more practical and effective.
Guo Peiyuan, Chairman of China SIF and Syntao Green Finance emphasized the
importance and impact of ISSB in his comments, and then talked about three
important issues regarding the usage of the new ISSB standards by enterprises,
namely when and how new disclosure reports complying with ISSB standards will be
published, and what other standards will be included.
Yu Jiantuo, Deputy Secretary General of CDRF and Director of BESI summarized
the event. He said that we cannot expect the launch of the new standards to
solve all the problems in the field of sustainable investment in one go. The
design of disclosure systems, whether at the market or national level, needs to
go through a process of validation, discussions and changes. The release of the
two standards should simplify the current multitude of standards, and we hope
that the introduction of the new standards can help to reduce reporting burdens
and effectively promote the establishment of the ESG disclosure system, and thus
lead to progress in other areas as well.
