HONG KONG, Nov. 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On 2 November 2023, The Hong Kong Management Association (HKMA) held the "2023 Best Annual Reports Awards" ceremony in Hong Kong. Fosun International was awarded the "Best Environmental, Social and Governance Reporting Awards" by HKMA, in recognition of the company's outstanding performance in ESG strategy, environmental protection, social responsibility, corporate governance and information disclosure by authoritative organization.
HKMA is a non-profit organization that is well-known in the business and education sectors, and enjoys a high reputation in the industry. Established by the HKMA in 1973, the Best Annual Reports Awards aims to recognize the publication of timely, accurate, informative, and well-presented annual reports by companies and non-profit organizations. This year marks the 50 years anniversary of the award.
HKMA points out that companies, such as Fosun International, which have received the "Best Environmental, Social and Governance Reporting Awards", have complied well with the disclosure requirements from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and made reference to other reporting standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). While it remains relatively limited, a growing number of companies have obtained external assurance and review. This bolsters credibility of disclosed information. In addition, to in line with emphasizing on ESG initiatives and development, more and more companies have formally elevated CSR/Sustainability Committee to one of the Board committees, while many companies have established an ESG steering committee/working group and/or created a professional position to oversee ESG activities and address compliance issues.
There are 11 enterprises being awarded the "Best Environmental Social and Governance Reporting Awards", other award recipients are Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, Drainage Services Department, Link Real Estate Investment Trust, MTR Corporation, Swire Properties, CLP Holdings, Chow Tai Fook Jewellery, Tencent Holdings, China Mobile and The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels.
Built a comprehensive mechanism for ESG management to effectively implement ESG strategies and actions
Fosun has always emphasized that corporate leaders should attach importance to ESG governance and establish an accountability system. Fosun has set up an ESG Board Committee under the Board of Directors (the "Board") to assist the Board in guiding and overseeing the Group's ESG development and implementation. At the management and decision-making level, Fosun has established an ESG Executive Committee under the management to provide decision support for the implementation of ESG strategies. At the implementation level, the Group has also set up an ESG Management Committee and an ESG Working Group to implement ESG strategies and related actions and ensure the establishment of appropriate and effective ESG risk management and internal control system.
In order to ensure the smooth and continuous progress of ESG work, Fosun has established a top-down and long-term mechanism for ESG improvement. The Group has set up relevant mechanism to include ESG management performance as an evaluation factor in the Executive Directors' performance assessment and remuneration assessment. With this mechanism, the Group and its member companies can deeply incorporate ESG into the operations and management progressively.
Benchmark against the international standard and obtained external assurance from an independent organization to build more trust with stakeholders
With a growing demand by stakeholders for more transparent and comparable reporting on companies' sustainability information, Fosun not only published the ESG Report in accordance with the Environmental, Social and Governance Reporting Guide in Appendix 27 to the Listing Rules of Hong Kong Stock Exchange, but also prepared the ESG Report with reference to the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI Standards) and disclosed its climate-related financial risks voluntarily based on the TCFD recommendations, demonstrating its commitment of climate action to the international community.
In order to strengthen sustainable development management and benchmark against the international standard, Fosun also joined the United Nations (UN) Global Compact in 2014, fully supporting the ten principles of the UN Global Compact and continuously promoting their close integration with its own ESG strategies and actively engaging its member companies in the implementation of ESG strategies. Fosun's ESG Report was prepared with reference to sustainable development frameworks such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to integrate SDGs into Fosun's sustainable development and management and information disclosure of its business operations. In addition, Fosun's ESG Report was audited and assured by SGS, an independent third-party and internationally recognized verification company, to enhance the trust of stakeholders in the report disclosed.
Fosun's remarkable ESG performance has been widely recognized by the international market
In recent years, global investors have attached increasing importance to the ESG performance of enterprises. Fosun International has also continued to promote ESG work and achieved impressive results. Fosun International received an AA MSCI ESG rating and was the only conglomerate in Greater China with such rating. It was selected as a constituent of the MSCI CHINA ESG LEADERS 10-40 Index again. Its S&P CSA ESG score outperformed 91% of its global peers, and was included in S&P Global's Sustainability Yearbook 2023 (China Edition) and recognized as an "Industry Mover" by S&P Global. Fosun International's HSI ESG rating was upgraded to AA- and was selected as a constituent stock of the Hang Seng Corporate Sustainability Index for the first time. Fosun International's FTSE Russell ESG score was upgraded from 3.0 to 3.8, consistently higher than the global industry average and Chinese company average, and it has been continuously selected as a constituent of the FTSE4Good Index Series.
