Major Chinese stock exchanges publish draft guidelines for sustainability reporting
13 Feb 2024
Three major stock exchanges in China, the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) and the Beijing Stock Exchange (BSE), have published draft guidelines on sustainability disclosure. If finalised, these guidelines would require issuers with a large market capitalisation, as well as those with dual listings, to disclose a broad range of sustainability topics beginning in 2026.
Entities within the scope of the proposed guidelines would have to disclose information about environmental, social and governance topics. This includes information about climate change, biodiversity and ecosystems, circular economy, energy consumption, supply chain security, rural revitalisation, as well as prevention and detection of corruption and bribery. Entities would also have to disclose their Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions for the value chain. The list of topics indicates that entities would be required to apply the 'double materiality' principle.
The draft guidelines are open for comment until 29 February 2024. They are currently only available in Chinese.
As an example, the following can be accessed on the website of the Shanghai SSE:
