On December 5, 2023, the 11th China SIF Annual Conference was successfully held in Beijing. The conference was hosted by SynTao Green Finance, with co-hosts from the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative (UN SSE). A number of experts from regulatory bodies, markets, and academia delivered speeches or participated in discussions at the conference. Over 300 representatives attended the event in person, and approximately 300,000 people watched the live-stream.
See the panel speech from Kiran Aziz at the parallel panel in the afternoon:
Four Critical Tools of Managing ESG Investing
(2023.12.5)
Kiran Aziz, Head of Responsible Investment KLP
Thank you very much for the opportunity me to share some reflections about our point of view. I represent KLP which is Norway’s largest pension company. We invest pension and saving money on behalf of the Norwegian people, the Norwegian municipalities, state health care entities, and other people and institutional investors. KLP is a global investor, mainly passively investing, and we would like to be an active owner with a holistic approach to ESG by encouraging companies to have both climate and nature risks in companies agenda.
We have recently been in China where we had quite good experience with engaging some of the companies within the mining sector. So we would like to engage with more Chinese companies, as we know that you play a vital role in the green transition and China as such, is a large market for a lot of global investors. The most important factor for us when we look at the companies and assess companies is to see what are the drivers for the long term value creation. I think this is a quite good starting point, because it lifts ESG from a compliance tool to more of a value creation tool. So I will urge Chinese company please kindly engage when investors reach out for sake of mutual benefits.
Back to the main tools we have. The first one, is to engage with the company's board. And we have made an expectation document which carries out all the expectations we have. The second tool is that we aim to vote on all the general assemblies, because as a minority shareholder, it is a basic right for us to able to vote on general assemblies. And board will understand what to do next to solve concerns of investors. In the past year, we have also voted against a lot of board decisions when we see that the board hasn’t necessary taken into account the most important factors for some of the companies.
The third tool we have is that we can exclude company if there is a systematic breach on some of the ethical guidelines we have. When we assess a company for exclusions, we rely on Information on in the public domain as well as the Information we get through the engagement with the companies. Exclusion tactic is the last tool we would like to use. And we would not use that if we have an opportunity to try to influence the company in the right direction. Also, we give a thorough exclusion document if it happens to the public so that we explicitly draw a line between what could be excluded and meanwhile, help other investors to see what kind of assessment we have done so that other investors can take the similar steps in order to hold the company accountable. Even if we have excluded company, we continue having the dialogue with the company in order to re-include them. Therefore, reporting is critical in this sense. Furthermore, I would like to say that the value we can extract from the reporting is critical. If reporting were not used, then companies would not have any improvements.
We understand that a lot of you also heavily rely on the ESG ratings, and these are important to us as well. Ratings are highly relevant to reporting and information transparency. And this is another reason why we urge a lot of the companies to be clear in their reporting.
China is quite important market for us and KLP truly supports this fast-evolving market in terms of regulations and expectations to companies. And our standards go beyond compliance and legal duty.
I would like to, again, urge that please engage investors though you stand in a lot of dilemmas, and that is important when building a holistic approach to ESG. I look forward to keeping having dialogue with a lot of the Chinese company going forward and wish you a nice conference going ahead.
We would like to thank our strategic partners Moody's, AXA SPDB Investment Managers, Southern Asset Management, and partners CDP, Asia Research and Engagement (ARE) for their support of the 11th China SIF Annual Conference. The media support institutions include Sina Finance, Caijing Magazine, Economic Observer, CCTV.com, Jiemian News, Netease Finance, Caixin Global, Wallstreetcn.com, EqualOcean, qeubee live, Wind 3C Conference, iFinD. China SIF received support from the Green and Low-Carbon Publicity Committee of CFEJ, Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), Ask Health, Sustainable Banking and Finance Network (SBFN), Bank of Beijing, Institute of Finance and Sustainability (IFS), Asia Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN), Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC), Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), Corporate Social Value Lab, Yuze Charity, British Embassy Beijing, European Fed eration of Financial Analysts Societies (EFFAS), CCM CSR Promotion Centre, School of Management and Economics, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, CUEB China ESG Institute, SynTao, Shenzhen Finance Institute, Green Startups, New Development Bank (NDB), Ford Foundation (Beijing Office), Impact Hub Shanghai, Sustainable Finance Research Hub (SFRH), etc. We extend our heartfelt thanks for their support.
The 11th China SIF Annual Conference serves as the flagship event of the 2023 China SIF Week. Additionally, China SIF Week comprises 12 events, encompassing a wide range of topics. as CESGA training, ESG media training workshop, ESG academic seminars, sustainable stock exchange roundtable, overseas responsible investment and ESG disclosure on mining sector, net-zero transition for financial institutions, sustainable investment roundtable, ESG talent incubation webinar, and more. Furthermore, China SIF Week also organized working meetings for domestic and international organizations such as CCEI, AIGCC, PRB.
You are welcome to follow the China SIF WeChat official account (ChinaSIF), as well as the official account of the organizer, SynTao Green Finance (syntaogf).
For inquiries regarding cooperation intentions with China SIF or requests for information, please contact the organizer at: contact@syntaogf.com.
About China SIF
China Sustainable Investment Forum (China SIF), established in Beijing as a non-profit organisation in 2012, is dedicated to promoting responsible investment and providing an internationalised platform for exchanging and sharing ideas on issues concerning sustainable development, with focus on facilitating Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) integration, advocating green finance, and contributing to a responsible capital market in China as well as its sustainability.
As a member of the Global SIFs Network, China SIF organises Annual Conferences, Summer Summits, SIF Weeks and a series of featured seminars and webinars annually, convening policymakers as well as domestic and foreign experts to share their views, research, and good practice. Professionals and practitioners from research institutes, financial institutions, listed companies, government agencies, and media representatives have joined our discussion and endeavour to explore multiple ways to promote and practice responsible investment and green finance.
China SIF keeps launching a series of landmark research reports, such as China Sustainable Investment Review, supporting the Dissertation Competition on ESG and Sustainable Finance and developing the "ESG Online Classes" series of educational videos together with partners and industry experts to promote ESG investment concepts and practices. Over the years, China SIF has become one of the most influential responsible investment forums in the region.
Please visit https://en.chinasif.org/ for more information.
