Why China Is Missing Out on Trillions in Sustainable Investment
- ESG investing slow to catch on without mandatory disclosure
- Investors fear virus may delay rules that were due in 2020
Source: AFP via Getty Images
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Every Thursday at 9:00 p.m. for the past two years, around a dozen Chinese finance veterans and regulators have held a video call to talk about pushing the nation’s companies to meet environmental, social and governance standards. This was supposed to be the year their efforts paid off.
ESG investing deploys more than $30 trillion worldwide, but the vast majority of Chinese companies don’t report enough data to show whether they qualify for the funds. Officials have said they’ll make it mandatory this year for the nearly 4,000 listed companies in the country to publish ESG metrics, potentially attracting trillions more into the country.