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.