EY Greater China region (EY) announced the winners of Sustainability Excellence Awards at the inaugural EY CSO Forum on 18 November. The award program was launched in February 2022 and has received overwhelming responses. An independent judging panel has assessed prudently and selected 10 companies, 3 individuals and 12 cases as winners of under three categories - companies/institutions, individuals and best practice/case, and the special jury prize. Representatives from government organizations, regulators, industrial organizations, academic and research institutions, and leading companies were invited to join the ceremony held in Shanghai and Beijing.
Jack Chan, EY China Chairman and EY Greater China Regional Managing Partner, says: “Innovation and technology has demonstrated great value and potential in addressing many environmental challenges facing the world today such as climate change and public health. In driving the development of innovation and technology, companies have increased their research and development investment and expedited innovative applications. They have not only reinvented supply chain and value chain and created opportunities for future competitiveness, but also provided new opportunities and ways to resolve environmental and social issues. At the same time, through innovating financial products and services continuously, and empowering the application of green finance, these financial institutions have provided strong support for green and low-carbon transformation of the economy and society.
“The inaugural EY CSO Forum and Sustainability Excellence Awards program is an innovative initiative to drive sustainable development of industries. Members of the independent judging panel have assessed the applications stringently, professionally and impartially, to recognize the latest and genuine achievement of Chinese companies and industry experts in their journey toward high-quality sustainable development.
“Going forward, EY will converge the wisdom and strengths of various stakeholders to support more Chinese companies integrate high-quality and sustainable development into their corporate strategies and management, so as to achieve economic, environmental and social effectiveness, accelerating China’s path to modernization and high-quality development.”
With the theme of “Create long-term value; Build sustainable future”, the award program aims to recognize outstanding listed companies that are leading the sustainable development in mainland China. With a focus on major national development strategies such as green development, rural revitalization and common prosperity, the independent judging panel has selected the winners based on the latest global sustainability evaluation system and ESG standards, taking into consideration the commercial, social and technological impact brought by the nominees. The winners come from a wide range of industries comprising energy, construction, finance, machinery, catering, transportation and technology, they have demonstrated that sustainable development and green transformation are inevitable for the long term.
Bank of China Limited (BOC) and GD Power Development Company Limited (GD Power) have received the Special Jury Prize from the independent judging panel.
BOC laid down “green finance” as one of “eight priority areas” in its strategic business directions and focused on domestic commercial banking services. The bank has leveraged the advantages of its globalized and integrated operations and created the “BOC Green+” product system and solutions by integrating financial tools including investing, lending, borrowing, insuring and renting, to provide continuous financial support to green and low-carbon development.
GD Power has persisted in increasing both economic and ecological, and social benefits, and its low-carbon transformation has brought positive impact to the society. It has also actively taken up social responsibilities such as ensuring a stable supply of electricity for rural revitalization.
The forum also featured two roundtable discussions. Representatives from government organizations, regulators, industrial organizations, academic and research institutions, and leading companies from various industries were invited to share their insights on two topics, namely “How do listed companies meet challenges and seize opportunities in ESG” and “Carbon market and green finance help achievement of dual carbon goals”. The speakers exchanged views on the opportunities and challenges in transformation development in various industries and how to promote green and sustainable development through technological and financial solutions.
Michael Bi, EY Greater China Markets Managing Partner, says: “The inaugural EY CSO Forum and Sustainability Excellence Awards program is devoted to maintaining professionalism, rigor, objectivity and fairness, which strives to serve China's high-quality development and supports more enterprises to excel in the sustainable development. Together, we create long-term value for the country and society, in a bid to build a reliable, sustainable and better working world.”
