Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
    Business
    Home / Business / Finance

    Amid COVID pandemic, investors prefer firms that have heart and soul

    By Chen Jia | China Daily | Updated: 2020-08-03 09:38
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    An overview of an offshore wind farm in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province. [Photo by Yao Feng/For China Daily]

    The COVID-19 pandemic is proving to be a sort of stress test for corporate resilience. Companies that can survive the market turmoil may still need extraordinary risk-management skills related to labor practices, supply chain and operations, going forward.

    Data related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing have been a useful tool for investors to screen companies with more positive sentiment amid the unprecedented crisis. Some studies have shown that higher ESG ratings can bring companies higher institutional investor money flows than what competitors that ignore ESG receive.

    This trend raises certain questions. Do investors differentiate companies based on a company's ability to reposition and respond to key ESG issues during the volatile period? Did this impact company returns?

    A research jointly conducted by State Street Associates and Harvard Business School indicated that companies with labor and supply chain practices that were seen as protecting employees and taking action to secure their supply chain experienced higher institutional money flows and less negative returns, especially when those practices were salient.

    Experts agreed that it is critical that a company that takes ESG issues seriously now more than ever should be evaluated as resilient that can maintain investors' trust.

    Given the rapid increase in ESG-related investment amount globally, it is imperative for asset managers to explain clearly how these evaluation metrics could affect the equity or debt issuers, as well as relevant financial products.

    Fund managers say they are keen on "sustainable", "green" and "responsible". Well, the truth is, investors may not receive enough information that can allow them to make proper investment choices. That's why, financial regulators in China and the United States have called for mandatory information disclosure of ESG products.

    A senior regulator of the US Securities and Exchange Commission recently questioned if asset managers were using ESG as a "virtue signaling tactic" to present themselves favorably to investors that wanted to achieve the double benefit of doing well financially while also doing good for society, as Financial Times reported.

    The ESG standards should represent a much higher quality of corporate operations and economic development, not become a fancy label for marketing campaigns of financial products, especially when some countries, including China, are stepping into the recovery phase after the COVID-19 outbreak.

    Governments are finding ways to develop sustainable economic recovery packages. Some economists warned that prioritized emission-intensive projects in COVID-19 recovery plans would expose national economies to escalating financial, health and social risks in coming years.

    Some suggested guiding principles to help create sustainable recovery plans. For example, governments should not backslide on the Paris Agreement commitments, and companies that receive government support should be required to address climate risk and cut emissions.

    They also said that facilitating investment, both public and private, in net zero emissions opportunities must be prioritized. And investor participation must be embedded across these principles and reach the higher ESG standards.

    China has committed to the Paris Agreement and it would not change due to the pandemic. The high-level financial regulators and economic planners also removed clean coal from green bonds projects taxonomy, a measure which will allow more international investors easier access to the Chinese green bond market.

    Also, the People's Bank of China, the central bank, and its global peers formed a network, which is paying attention to the new climate scenarios in the world and helps financial markets price in the climate risks.

    All signs show ESG topics will be much popular in the post-pandemic era, and new standards are expected to make financial investments more efficient to support the "green recovery" and sustainable development.

    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    CLOSE
     
    亚洲国产91精品无码专区| 无码人妻少妇久久中文字幕| 无码毛片AAA在线| 精品久久久久久无码中文字幕| 中文字幕国产| 天堂а√中文最新版地址在线| 无码国产精品一区二区免费式芒果| 亚洲欧美在线一区中文字幕| 中文字幕在线精品视频入口一区| 色综合久久中文字幕无码| 最好看的电影2019中文字幕 | 中文字幕丰满乱子无码视频| 亚洲成av人片在线观看无码不卡| 中文字幕在线观看免费视频| 一级毛片中出无码| 精品人妻系列无码人妻免费视频| 亚洲AV成人无码久久精品老人| 少妇中文无码高清| 99久久超碰中文字幕伊人| 亚洲?V无码成人精品区日韩 | 亚洲AV永久青草无码精品| 7国产欧美日韩综合天堂中文久久久久| 无码国模国产在线无码精品国产自在久国产 | 亚洲中文字幕无码一区二区三区| 中文字幕日韩欧美一区二区三区| 亚洲中文字幕在线第六区| 天堂无码在线观看| 毛片无码全部免费| 日韩精品无码人妻一区二区三区| 亚洲成AV人片在线观看无码| 无码无套少妇毛多18p| 亚洲2022国产成人精品无码区 | 亚洲VA中文字幕不卡无码| 一本色道久久HEZYO无码| 亚洲精品无码久久久久| 亚洲AV无码片一区二区三区| 亚洲精品~无码抽插| 久久久久久无码Av成人影院| 人妻少妇伦在线无码专区视频| 久久久久久久亚洲Av无码| 人妻少妇精品无码专区动漫|