(5 December 2017) The United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative co-hosted the annual China Social investment Forum (SIF) week bringing together over 300 sustainable finance and responsible investment leaders from various sectors to evaluate and discuss world trends and China’s practice. The week included a seminar on sustainable stock exchanges, as well as a number of events related to green finance and green development, the belt and road initiative, green bond standards, sustainable business, ESG integration, and financial innovation.
The annual conference provided a platform for leaders from financial institutions, industry associations, governments, civil society, regulator bodies, international organizations and the general public to exchange thoughts, ideas and goals pertaining to social investment. China SIF week was opened by: Ma Jun, Chairman of the Green Finance Committee of China Society for Finance and Banking; Chen Chunyan, Vice Secretary General of Asset Management Association of China; Liu Chuankui, Vice Secretary General of Insurance Asset Management Association of China; and Lorenzo Saa, Director of Networks and Global Outreach at PRI.
In the opening session of the conference, Ma Jun addressed China’s recent rapid progress in green finance, while also making several suggestions to further this growth. They included: 1) to complete the mandatory environmental information disclosure mechanism for listed companies; 2) to promote the notion that green investment can improve long-term returns; 3) state-owned long-term investors taking the lead in green investment; 4) to encourage the research and development of green financial instruments; 5) to support third-party assurance and rating agencies; 6) to build the capacity for environmental risk analysis; 7) to encourage domestic institutional investors to disclose environmental information, and to adopt principles for responsible investment.
A new ESG index, the SGCX ESG 50 Index was also launched at the event, with a launching ceremony recognizing the 50 companies included in the index. In September, SynTao Green Finance, a Chinese consultancy for responsible investment cooperated with Caixin Media, a major source of financial and business news and information services in China, and released the “Landsea· China ESG Development Index”. This time, SynTao Green Finance and Caixin came together again and published the SynTaoGF–CaiXin ESG 50 Index (SGCX ESG50 Index), the first equity index incorporating ESG performance of listed companies in Mainland Chinese market.
The 5th China SIF (China Social Investment Forum) Annual Conference was held in Beijing on December 5th, 2017 Jointly hosted by SynTao Green Finance, Green Finance Committee of China Society for Finance and Banking, and Caixin Media and co-hosted by UN Sustainable Stock Exchange initiative.
