RESET Carbon advises on China’s new official disclosure standards for energy companies

We are proud to share that RESET Carbon has been invited to advise on China’s new ESG disclosure standards for energy companies initiated by the Investment Association of China (IAC).

IAC is in the process of strengthening its ESG information disclosure through the creation of the ‘ESG Disclosure Standards for Energy Enterprises’. This work forms part of China’s ‘Zero Carbon China Initiative’ launched in January 2020, which is aimed at achieving China’s goal of 2030 Carbon Peak and 2060 Carbon Neutrality.

With over 13 years’ experience in the China market, RESET understands how to implement decarbonization projects in complex supply chains. Our engineering capability and on the ground expertise mean we are uniquely positioned to advise on the drafting of the standards by ensuring that the guidelines are practical – which is a key ambition of IAC.

Our General Manager, Ellen Wu, shares; “We are very encouraged by the ambition of China on building a sustainable future. RESET always believes in the importance of regulation and sector guidelines in making meaningful reduction at pace, and China is moving toward the right direction. We are also honoured to be able to contribute the knowledge we have accumulated over the last decade to help advance China’s ambition on reaching the goal of 2030 Carbon Peak and 2060 Carbon Neutrality.”

In recent years, we’ve seen regions such as the EU and the United States accelerate mandatory unified ESG disclosure standards to improve ESG information transparency.

IAC officially began drafting the ESG Disclosure Standards for Energy Enterprises last year. The drafting process considers the international ESG concept consensus and standard system, as well as China’s relevant policies, regulations, and development strategies, to construct an enterprise ESG disclosure indicator system that covers environment, society, and governance. From there, a basic framework is created for companies carrying out ESG disclosure.

Our team has supported this drafting process, answering some key questions from the committees, such as specific standards for disclosure, and if the measurement / score should be done in absolute score or as a relative score. We also provided suggestions on the sector boundary, i.e., the definition of the energy businesses that these standards will be applicable to, particularly regarding the boundary of an energy company’s supply chain.

The ESG Disclosure Standards for Energy Enterprises will stipulate the guidelines for ESG disclosure for both Chinese companies conducting energy business at home and abroad, and companies conducting energy business in China.

We are looking forward to progress being made on these new ESG standards and to see them rolled out in the latter half of 2023.