【ESG News】Global Trends Biweekly Newsletter Issue 15 (2024.8.26-2024.9.6)

Hong Kong China ESG trends

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific in call for action on switch to green aviation fuel

Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways has urged the government to come up with a plan to help local airlines make the switch to green fuel, including subsidies or logistics support, for moving towards carbon neutrality goals amid supply shortages.

Source: SCMP (https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/transport/article/3276464/hong-kongs-cathay-pacific-call-action-switch-green-aviation-fuel)

International ESG trends

New collaboration commences between GRI and IFVI

Two global organizations committed to enabling businesses to contribute to a just and sustainable future, through a deep understanding of their impacts, have announced the start of a new partnership. GRI has been the champion of impact reporting for over 25 years, with the GRI Standards the world’s most widely used framework for sustainability reporting. Meanwhile, the International Foundation for Valuing Impacts (IFVI), launched in 2022, builds on the frameworks and protocols of GRI and existing standard-setters to develop the next level of sustainability information – the monetary valuation of impacts, also called impact accounting.

Source:  GRI (https://www.globalreporting.org/news/news-center/understanding-impact-new-collaboration-commences-between-gri-and-ifvi/)

Europe Faces Rising Climate Risks: Only 25% of Losses Insured Amid Escalating Extreme Weather

Europe’s climate is changing fast, bringing extreme weather that poses significant risks to the region’s economy, environment, and health. With the continent warming at twice the global average since 1980, events like flash floods, torrential rains, heatwaves, and wildfires are becoming more frequent and severe. The financial impact of these climate events is substantial. In 2023 alone, Europe faced economic losses of €270 billion due to extreme weather. Despite this, only about 25% of these losses are covered by insurance, leaving a significant protection gap that threatens economic stability and increases fiscal pressure on governments.

Source:  ESG News (https://esgnews.com/europe-faces-rising-climate-risks-only-25-of-losses-insured-amid-escalating-extreme-weather/)

Malaysia launches aviation blueprint to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050

Malaysia on Thursday launched the Malaysia Aviation Decarbonization Blueprint (MADB) to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The blueprint is targeting an 18 percent reduction in emissions by 2050 for aircraft technology, the Transport Ministry said in a statement.

Source:  Xinhua (https://english.news.cn/20240905/aa61a641babd4894a2b189b2b800c2c7/c.html)

Mainland China ESG trends

China, U.S. hold meeting on enhancing climate action

The China-U.S. Working Group on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s held its second meeting from Wednesday to Friday in Beijing to continue discussions on addressing the climate crisis. The meeting was co-chaired by China's Special Envoy for Climate Change Liu Zhenmin and U.S. Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy John Podesta, China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment said Sunday.

Source: Xinhua (https://english.news.cn/20240909/a9be12b699ec421b9351c30d958fabac/c.html)

For the first time, Jiangsu Province fully covered the disclosure of corporate social responsibility reports of provincial enterprises

On the 26th, Jiangsu SASAC held a press conference to disclose for the first time the "Corporate Social Responsibility Reports of Jiangsu Provincial Enterprises 2022-2023", the 2023 social responsibility/sustainable development report of 21 provincial enterprises and the 2023 ESG report of 14 provincial enterprises holding listed companies. The report released this time, focusing on six aspects including responsibility focus, innovation leadership, coordination and common progress, green and low-carbon, open cooperation, and shared prosperity, comprehensively demonstrates the important contribution of provincial state-owned assets and state-owned enterprises to the "pillar" and "ballast" of national economic and social development under the leadership of the Party, and to comprehensively strengthen the resilience and resilience of Jiangsu's economy.

Source: Jiangsu SASAC (http://www.sasac.gov.cn/n2588025/n2588129/c31524789/content.html)

The draft of the Three-year Action Plan for Strengthening Standardization in the Securities and Futures Industry (2024-2026) was released for comment

Recently, the Science and Technology Department of the CSRC solicited comments on the draft of the "Three-year Action Plan for Strengthening the standardization of the Securities and Futures Industry (2024-2026)" drafted by the organization, and widely solicited comments from the industry. The draft for comments mentions that it supports the development of national standards in areas such as general basis, the development of group standards in industry segments, and encourages operating institutions to independently build enterprise standards. Among them, the regulatory authorities will promote the development of listed companies ESG, bonds and other related information disclosure standards, and encourage the industry to set up full-time standardization personnel.

Source：Securities Times (https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/1300176.html) 

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