On February 8, SZSE formulated and issued the Self-Regulatory Guidelines No.17 for Companies Listed on Shenzhen Stock Exchange - Sustainable Development Report (for Trial Implementation) (Exposure Draft) (hereinafter referred to as the “Guidelines for Sustainable Development Report”) to solicit comments from the market. This is an important measure for SZSE to implement the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress, the Central Economic Work Conference and the Central Financial Work Conference and fully, accurately and comprehensively carry out the new development concept. With this measure, SZSE aims to standardize the disclosure requirements for sustainable development information of listed companies, instruct listed companies to practice the concept of sustainable development and promote the improvement of the quality of listed companies. This helps give full play to the hub function of the capital market, guides the gathering of factors in the field of sustainable development, further builds industrial clusters with sustainable investment value and facilitates the realization of the strategic goals of “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality”. It also drives the enhancement of governance ability, competitiveness, innovation ability, anti-risk ability, medium and long-term sustainable development ability and long-term stable return ability of listed companies, enhances listed companies’ attraction to long-term capital and further consolidates the foundation for the high-quality development of listed companies.

 According to the report to the 20th CPC National Congress, driving low-carbon economic and social development is the key link in achieving high-quality development, which is the primary task for comprehensively building a modern socialist country. The Central Economic Work Conference proposed to actively yet prudently promote carbon peaking and carbon neutrality and accelerate the creation of a low-carbon supply chain. The Central Financial Work Conference pointed out the effective implementation of five major tasks including green finance. In the Three-year Action Plan for Promoting the Improvement of Quality of Listed Companies (2022-2025), CSRC requires the establishment of a sound disclosure system for sustainable development information, the formulation of a system of disclosure rules for sustainable development information of listed companies that is based on China’s actual situation, in line with international trends and with Chinese characteristics, the definition of the implementation path and the gradual promotion as planned in stages. The aim is to better play the role of finance in serving national strategies, supporting high-quality development and practicing social responsibilities and further optimize resource allocation.

Under the guidance of CSRC, SZSE has steadily advanced the drafting of the Guidelines for Sustainable Development Report with the overall thinking of three aspects. Firstly, being practical and realistic. After fully considering the development stage and disclosure ability of listed companies in China, SZSE achieves the matching of cost and benefit through the combination of mandatory and voluntary disclosure, combination of qualitative and quantitative disclosure, setting of transitional period and mitigation measures. Secondly, upholding systematic thinking. SZSE helps listed companies build a sound governance mechanism related to sustainable development, establishes a disclosure framework with “governance - strategy - impact, risk and opportunity management - indicators and objectives” as the core elements and drives high-quality information disclosure with better internal governance and concrete actions. Thirdly, learning from good practices and reflecting Chinese characteristics. SZSE summarizes the current domestic and foreign disclosure systems and excellent practices, refers to national standards and industry norms and actively absorbs international beneficial experience. Based on the actual situation of China’s capital market, SZSE sets specific topics such as rural revitalization and innovation-driven concept to fully reflect the characteristics and advantages of China’s listed companies in the field of sustainable development.

Following the above drafting ideas, the Guidelines for Sustainable Development Report consists of 58 articles in 6 chapters covering 20 specific topics, further enriching and improving the information disclosure requirements related to sustainable development on the basis of the existing rules. It specifies that listed companies shall analyze and disclose the topics to be disclosed around four core aspects, namely, governance, strategy, impact - risk & opportunity management, and indicators & objectives, so that investors and stakeholders can fully understand the actions taken by listed companies to cope with and manage impacts, risks and opportunities related to sustainable development. Meanwhile, it sets multiple topics including carbon emissions, pollutants, ecosystem and biodiversity, circular economy utilization, rural revitalization and supply chain security in such aspects as environment, society and corporate governance. In terms of implementation method, it clarifies that the constituents continuously included in the Shenzhen 100 Index and the ChiNext Index during the reporting period and the companies listed simultaneously at home and abroad shall disclose the Sustainable Development Report and that other listed companies are encouraged to make disclosure voluntarily. It also defines that listed companies shall disclose the information related to some important topics through qualitative and quantitative methods, so as to facilitate horizontal and vertical comparison by investors and stakeholders. Meanwhile, it sets mitigation measures for quantitative disclosure requirements including that listed companies can make qualitative disclosure and explain the reasons for the indicators that are more difficult to disclose quantitatively in the first reporting period. In terms of transitional arrangements and other mitigation measures, in order to help listed companies build capacity and prepare for implementation in advance, listed companies that are required to disclose the Sustainable Development Report can disclose the 2025 Sustainable Development Report for the first time before April 30, 2026 at the latest. If it is difficult to quantitatively disclose the impact of sustainable development-related risks and opportunities on the current financial position during the reporting periods of 2025 and 2026, it can be only disclosed qualitatively.

SZSE has always adhered to the concept of sustainable development, actively carried out practices related to sustainable development, instructed listed companies to actively fulfill their social responsibilities and has been committed to building a group of listed companies that meet the requirements of low-carbon sustainable development. SZSE has successively issued the White Paper on Environmental Information Disclosure of SZSE-listed Companies and the White Paper on Sustainable Development Information Disclosure of SZSE-listed Companies. These help guide listed companies to strengthen their awareness of sustainable development information disclosure and actively practice the concept of sustainable development by sharing the practices and excellent cases of sustainable development information disclosure of SZSE-listed companies. In 2022, more than 2,700 SZSE-listed companies disclosed their social responsibility performance in their annual reports; more than 1,100 ones disclosed information on pollution prevention, resource conservation and ecological protection; and more than 800 ones released independent social responsibility reports or ESG reports, further improving the quality of ESG information disclosure. According to the statistics of the United Nations on total carbon emissions of companies listed on stock exchanges of G20 countries, SZSE-listed companies ranked first in low carbon with the lowest total carbon emissions.

Next, SZSE will, in accordance with the unified deployments of CSRC, continue to listen to the opinions and suggestions of market participants through multiple means, fully study and absorb reasonable opinions and suggestions and timely release them to the market for implementation. SZSE will constantly improve the system of sustainable development rules, cultivate leading companies in the field of sustainable development, enrich the system of sustainable development products, optimize the system of sustainable development services, strive to build a benchmark for sustainable exchanges and help create a low-carbon and sustainable market ecology.