China-Singapore Jingwei, December 21 (Wei Wei) "Practicing the ESG concept is a requirement for enterprises to fulfill their social responsibilities, and it is also a development trend for large international companies. On the 21st, Ji Xiaonan, former chairman of the board of supervisors of key state-owned enterprises, said in an exclusive interview with China-Singapore Jingwei during the 2023 China Corporate Governance 50 Forum and the 12th Financial China V Forum.
Ji Xiaonan pointed out that ESG is not about pursuing short-term benefits, because it involves social responsibility and the environment. For example, this year's extreme weather will have an impact on the national economy and listed companies.
In Ji Xiaonan's view, listed companies, as excellent representatives of many industries, should take the lead in fulfilling their responsibilities and setting an example in practicing ESG. Social responsibility, environmental protection, and corporate governance play a basic supporting role in the sustainable development of enterprises, and it is necessary to integrate ESG concepts into the company's system, including business decisions, which will be conducive to the long-term development of enterprises.
Talking about the challenges faced by listed companies in implementing ESG concepts, Ji Xiaonan believes that China is still a developing country, especially when improving the environment involves carbon emissions. **The Economic Work Conference pointed out that the complexity, severity and uncertainty of the external environment have increased.
Listed companies, especially those in some traditional industries, are now facing great operating pressure, and they should also give enterprises a chance to recuperate and recuperate, so that enterprises have the potential for long-term development. Ji Xiaonan believes that if you are in a hurry, move the long-term goals to be achieved in the future to the present, and put forward requirements for enterprises, it may increase the operating pressure of listed companies.
Ji Xiaonan also mentioned that ESG has not been carried out in China for a long time, including the awareness of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and the standards and calculation methods of carbon emissions are not perfect, which involves the cost and burden of listed companies, and relevant research should be strengthened to formulate and introduce relevant standards as soon as possible. In addition, with the increasing number of carbon credit transactions, Chinese companies should gradually cultivate experts and talents in carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.
Looking forward to 2024, how can listed companies achieve high-quality development?Ji Xiaonan pointed out that in the past two years, more emphasis was placed on supply-side structural reform, and this year's economic work conference highlighted effective demand. As a listed company, it can open up the market and stimulate effective market demand by improving its own product quality and service.
From the perspective of enterprises, there is still market demand, but the problem lies in whether the company's capabilities can keep up, including enterprise transformation, new product development, and whether the quality of employees can adapt. For example, many companies will be involved in carbon emissions, and new energy has many technical products and services that can solve related problems, and this market space is very large. Ji Xiaonan said.
In addition, Ji Xiaonan pointed out that although there are more than 5,000 listed companies in A-shares, most of them are still relatively small in scale and have low R&D capabilities. The fundamental problem is to aim at market demand and improve its own capacity building, including scientific and technological innovation capabilities, marketing model innovation capabilities, and cost control. Enterprises should further integrate the first chain, industrial chain, enterprise competition is not alone, is the competition of the industrial chain, platform competition, so to improve the competitiveness of enterprises, the need for the entire industrial chain to develop and move forward together.
On December 21, the 2023 China Corporate Governance 50 Forum and the 12th Finance China V Forum were held in Beijing. The forum was guided by the China Association of Listed Companies and China News Service, hosted by the China Corporate Governance 50 Forum, China-Singapore Jingwei, and the Academic Advisory Committee of the China Association of Listed Companies, and co-sponsored by the CITIC Reform and Development Research Association and the School of Economics and Business Administration of Beijing Normal University.
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