China’s transition. The world’s business.
In Focus
Company reporting, governance and internal controls that determine how sustainability claims are documented, tested and used.
In This Section
The five-province Southern Regional Electricity Market now has formal operating status after more than a year of continuous settlement trials, giving businesses a clearer regional framework for long-term contracts, spot exposure and settlement.
From 1 December, regulated outbound investments can trigger reports before specified commitments, before certain non-sensitive investments through controlled overseas entities, after completion or termination, annually and immediately after specified adverse events.
A new rule gives exporters seven working days after a written customs query; Customs and MOFCOM then face sequential 15-working-day clocks when a complete file is referred for identification.
A proposed credential route would speed defined dual-use repair and spare-parts movements while shifting compliance toward registration, records and post-export control.
A 26 September proposal, open for comment until 26 October, would make voluntary certification depend on annual data updates and checks when a product’s inputs or energy mix change.
A joint metrology-review exercise links instrument traceability with national ETS oversight. The immediate test is not a new carbon target, but whether companies can show how emissions data were produced.
China’s revised power-accident regulation moves safety governance toward prevention, wider grid participation and evidence that can survive an investigation.
A new opinion for state-owned coal enterprises puts technical authority, frontline reporting and protection from production pressure at the center of preventive safety governance.
Recognizing corporate sustainability planners as a new occupation signals that ESG capability is entering formal workforce policy—but a title alone does not guarantee decision authority or quality.
The open question is no longer only what happened at a supplier. It is whether worker-grievance controls, buyer oversight and governance can withstand scrutiny when a dispute becomes public.
A new practitioner survey points to a familiar challenge: demand for green-finance work is real, but the quality of implementation depends on skills and institutional support.
China Briefing's review of environmental compliance trends shows that the next ESG constraint is institutional capacity. The analysis points to an around 30 Mt CO2e emissions-reduction-capacity target through non-CO2 measures during the 15th…
The University of Hong Kong's Aug. 26 announcement about a new One Earth study puts the battery circularity debate in the right place: producer responsibility. The study, by researchers from HKU, Shandong University, the University of Maryland,…
China's Ecological and Environmental Code matters because it changes how environmental policy is organized, not because it introduces a single flashy rule. According to the Aug 17 PRNewswire release, the code came into force on Aug 15 and brings…
China's mandatory climate disclosure regime is now old enough to be judged by a practical question: does it improve governance, or does it mainly produce new reporting pages? The Oxford Business Law Blog's July 6 review frames the issue well.…
The Beautiful China plan released on Jul 3 is easy to dismiss as a slogan, but it should be read as a governance document. The State Council said the 2026-2030 plan sets overall requirements, targets, key tasks and major projects for advancing…
China's sustainable finance regime is becoming more explicit about greenwashing. Green Central Banking reported on Jul 1 that the Asset Management Association of China has introduced inaugural disclosure guidelines for sustainability funds. The…
China’s climate transition is national in targets but provincial in execution. Carbon Brief reported on Jun 18 that China’s provincial-level governments have now published their 15th five-year plans for 2026–2030. Its search-indexed summary notes…
The week’s power-system signals point to a broader ESG problem: green-power claims are becoming a data-governance issue. Reuters highlighted the changing role of coal as China’s green-energy drive advances. The CSEE forum highlighted curtailment,…
Focus event: on June 2, the National Energy Administration published April 2026 renewable-energy green certificate issuance and trading data.
Focus event: Securities Times, citing China Securities Journal, reported on May 25 that the Shenzhen Stock Exchange had revised three ChiNext index methodologies, extending ESG negative-exclusion rules to ChiNext mid-cap, small-cap and broad mid-large-cap benchmarks from June 15, 2026.
Focus event: Xinhua reported on May 28 that MIIT convened the second meeting of the national NEV power-battery recycling task force and called for law-based regulation of retired-battery recycling.
Focus event: On May 21, the MIIT Equipment Industry Development Center asked NEV producers to complete 2026 safety-hazard inspections covering batteries, assisted-driving systems, monitoring, after-sales service, accidents and safety-system self-checks.
Focus event: Securities Daily reported that all 427 companies required to publish 2025 ESG reports had done so by April 30, while voluntary standalone ESG reports reached 49% of A-share companies.
Focus event: A-share companies completed the first mandatory ESG reporting cycle for 2025 reports on April 30.
Focus event: The April 30 ESG reporting-season analysis highlighted supply-chain emissions in the storage sector, including an estimate that CATL’s supply-chain emissions were more than five times its core operational emissions.
Focus event: the Party and State Council offices issued assessment measures for carbon peaking and neutrality performance.
Focus event: the CSRC announced a 2026 special campaign against financial fraud by listed companies.
If you looked for a blockbuster China ESG policy headline last week, you could easily conclude that not much happened. That conclusion would be wrong. Week 16 was not a no-signal week; it was a different-signal week. The center of gravity moved…
On April 16, Bilibili announced it filed its annual report on Form 20-F for FY2025 with the U.S. SEC. This is routine in one sense, but routine does not mean low signal. In ESG analysis, filing events are often more informative than thematic…
Zhihu disclosed on April 17 that it filed its FY2025 Form 20-F with the SEC, and in adjacent communication it published its 2025 ESG report with both Chinese and English versions. By your hard filter, an ESG publication headline alone is not…
On April 16, Yiren Digital announced inclusion in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook (China Edition) 2026 and Industry Mover distinction. The release includes concrete numbers: CSA score of 50 out of 100, top-decile ranking in its industry…