Chinese firms are laggards in climate disclosures, but not for long: asset manager
- Cosco Shipping, Air China, CCB and ICBC land on a divestment list, but impending regulatory tightening will move the needle, LGIM says
Chinese companies as a group ranked at the bottom among peers in 12 markets assessed, with average scores under 20, below American firms in the low 30s and European companies in the low 50s to low 60s, in LGIM’s latest climate impact pledge report. Brazilian and Australian companies saw notable improvements.
Trista Chen, the Singapore-based head of investment stewardship for Asia excluding Japan at LGIM, which had £1.16 trillion (US$1.46 trillion) of assets under management last year, attributed China’s ranking to the absence of regulatory requirements on disclosures aligned to international standards in mainland China’s stock exchanges.
“With growing global convergence on standards through the implementation of the International Sustainability Standards Board’s recommendations, we should see an improvement in the quantity and quality of disclosures from China and the US in the next two years,” she said in an interview.
In the US, large listed companies will have to make climate-related disclosures for financial years starting as early as next year and publish greenhouse-gas emissions from their own facilities and purchased energy the following year. Obligations for smaller companies will be phased in later.