ICBC recently attended the First ESG Salon of Public Companies held by the ESG Committee of the China Association for Public Companies (CAPC) via videoconferencing and shared its experience in ESG management and information disclosure.

During the salon, ICBC reviewed the evolution and development trends of global ESG concepts, listed the latest international norms and regulatory requirements, proposed using universal languages to better tell Chinese ESG stories, and shared its practices and experience in ESG management system building and information disclosure. ICBC stated that ESG has become an important part of information disclosure by public companies and it is an inevitable requirement to adapt to market orientation and investors demand. ICBC has released CSR reports for 15 consecutive years with a stable structure comprised of three chapters, namely, Environmental, Social and Governance. ICBC has also pioneered in releasing its semi-annual ESG reports, which have been published for two years straight. ICBC has therefore formed a “three-in-one” ESG information disclosure system that consists of CSR report, themed reports and regular information disclosure. In recent years, ICBC’s ESG management and information disclosure achievements have been fully recognized by stakeholders including regulators, rating agencies, investors and media. In the results of China Banking Association’s GYROSCOPE Evaluation System on the steady development capability of commercial banks, ICBC has topped the comprehensive ranking for two consecutive years and it is also the first championship-defending commercial bank since the launch of the GYROSCOPE Evaluation System. ICBC was rated A by MSCI ESG Ratings, the highest rating assigned to the Chinese banking industry. Moreover, ICBC has won many awards including the Responsible Enterprise of 2022 by China Newsweek, the KPMG ESG Impact Award 2022, and the ESG Best Practical Case of the Year by CAPC. 

Founded in early November 2022, the CAPC ESG Committee aims to leverage its professional strengths to build consensus, establish a platform, and form synergy to help form an internationally recognized ESG management system with Chinese characteristics. As the deputy director unit of the Committee, ICBC was invited to the first themed salon of the Committee to share its practices, achievements and experience in ESG management and ESG information disclosure with member units. Next, ICBC will continue making good use of the ESG Committee platform, giving full play to its own strengths, actively participating in the activities held by the Committee, learning from and facilitating member units, to jointly promote the ESG work of public companies into a new stage and achieve high-quality development of itself.