As one of China's most open and economically vibrant areas, the GBA’s Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area includes sustainable development concepts such as green development and improving people’s livelihood. HSBC has released the first GBA ESG Index in Q4 2022 to effectively reflect the status and direction of sustainable development in the GBA.
Developed in partnership with China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group (CECEP) Environmental Consulting Group Limited, a consultancy specialising in sustainable management as well as green and sustainable finance, the HSBC GBA ESG Index provides holistic insights into the area’s sustainable development.
The GBA ESG Index uses a combination of macro and micro methodologies and is updated quarterly. As well as the main GBA ESG Regional Index, a number of sub-indices are compiled, including City Sub-indices, Industry Sub-indices and Sub-indices by company size. The GBA ESG Index aims to objectively reflect and track the GBA’s sustainable development and its ESG.
From a macro perspective, we analyse the region, cities and industrial characteristics from five areas: policy, environment, economic and social development, corporate governance, and green and sustainable finance. The ESG performance of companies is evaluated from a micro perspective using the following five first-level indicators: environmental, social, governance, green and sustainable finance, and external assurance. To these an adjustment indicator, ESG reputation, is added which takes negative or controversial ESG events into consideration.
The GBA advances emerging industries like EVs, new energy, intelligent robots with policy backing, driving innovation for 'dual carbon' goals.
The update report for the first quarter of 2024 shows that under the leadership of actively promoting the development of new quality productivity, emerging industries and future industries in the GBA have flourished, and the overall performance of ESG has continued to improve, with the GBA ESG Regional Index in the first quarter increasing by 6% year-on-year to 124.42.
At the same time, the acceleration of the economic transformation of the GBA has also encouraged enterprises in the region to further accelerate the pace of low-carbon emission reduction. The latest data shows that the number of companies in the GBA that participated in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) questionnaire assessment in 2023 has doubled compared to the previous year.
In addition, 28 companies in the region set emission reduction targets or made emission reduction commitments through the Science-based Carbon Target Initiative (SBTi) in the first quarter of this year, accounting for one-third of the national total.
The average value of the GBA ESG industry sub-index in the third quarter of 2023 increased by 20% year-on-year. Among the key industries that the report focuses on, thanks to the introduction of policies to support the development of the digital economy and the trade-in of consumer goods, as well as the improvement of the industry‘s climate change management, the most significant improvement in ESG performance in the first quarter of this year was consumer discretionary items and communications services.
For the ESG performance of the food and beverage sub-sector under the communication services and consumer goods industries, this report provides an in-depth analysis of their low-carbon emission reduction paths and initiatives. As one of the pillar industries of the GBA, communication service companies are committed to building an integrated carbon emission management system covering industrial manufacturing and infrastructure operations, while promoting emission reduction, using their own technological advantages to help other industries achieve energy conservation and emission reduction through innovative products and services. The food and beverage industry, driven by the rising trend of green consumption, has introduced more environmentally friendly products to meet the growing demand of consumers for healthy and sustainable diets.
There is no standard definition of, measurement criteria or methodology for ESG/Sustainability assessments. HSBC does not conduct its own specific due diligence in relation to the methodology adopted by CECEPEC in respect of the study in this document. ESG/Sustainability assessment is an evolving area and new regulations and measurement criteria may come into effect which may affect how a specific criteria such as a geographical area, industry or business sector is categorised or labelled. A criteria such as geographical location, industry or business sector which is considered to fulfil ESG/sustainable criteria today may not meet those criteria at some point in the future.
Today we finance a number of industries that significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. We have a strategy to help our customers to reduce their emissions and to reduce our own. For more information visit www.hsbc.com/sustainability
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