(4 December 2018) The United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative and SynTao Green Finance launched the SSE’s report “How securities regulators can support the Sustainable Development Goals” in China, translated to Chinese, at the 6th China Social Investment Forum (SIF) Annual Conference. This year’s edition of the SIF Annual Conference, titled “ESG Investment to Represent a New Development Concept” welcomed international and domestic industry leaders and practitioners, experts and scholars and regulatory bodies.

The SSE’s regulator report was initially launched at the 2018 SSE Global Dialogue within the UNCTAD World Investment Forum on 23 October 2018, and was translated to Chinese by SynTao Green Finance for the SIF Annual Conference. The report outlines five main action areas and five supporting activities that securities market regulators are already using to support the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The report was produced with an Advisory Group made up of nearly 70 capital market stakeholders. Recognising that there can be no one-size-fits-all approach, the report aims to facilitate the sharing of experiences, and presents a range of actions that are supplemented by examples of what securities regulators have already done.

The launch of the Chinese version of this report was part of a dialogue on how environmental, social and governance (ESG) information disclosure improves values of listed companies, and how to integrate ESG factors to realize robust investment in banking, insurance, and asset management sectors as part of the SIF Annual Conference.

Dr. Ma Jun, Head of Green Finance Committee of China Society for Finance and Banking, stated at the SIF Annual Conference that regulatory bodies have been advocating green finance and responsible investment since the issuance of the Guidelines for Establishing the Green Financial System by People’s Bank of China and six other agencies. Ma Jun suggested that institutional investors can focus on developing green finance products, raising green finance awareness and exploring ways to practice responsible investment.

Dr. Guo Peiyuan, Chairman of China SIF, and Chairman of SynTao Green Finance hosted the first half of the SIF conference. He stated that the six years of  China SIF annual conferences have witnessed the start-up and development of responsible investment in China. China SIF will continue to be a professional platform to promote responsible investment in China as well as international networking and talent training. In the second half of the conference, professionals and academia from home and abroad were invited to thematic forums featuring on ESG integration in asset management, ESG disclosure, responsible banking, and impact investment.

The 6th China SIF annual conference is co-hosted by SynTao Green Finance, UN Sustainable Stock Exchange initiative, Caixin Data, Shenzhen Jifeng Green Finance Promotion Center, Principles for Responsible Investment, UNEP Finance Initiative, and Shenzhen Green Finance Committee of Financial Society of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone.