The official launch of Inaugural CSO Forum and Sustainability Excellence Awards

The EY Greater China region today announced the official launch of the Inaugural EY CSO Forum and Sustainability Excellence Awards. Under the theme "Creating long-term value, building a trusted future”, the awards program aims to support China’s dual-carbon strategy and recognize listed companies in mainland China on their outstanding achievements in sustainability. 

The program is designed to identify and promote best practices for low-carbon transformation and sustainable high-quality development; help accelerate the deployment and enhance scalability and commercialization; inspire CSOs in leading sustainability development that empowers green competitiveness of enterprises for the future.

Being one of the world's leading professional organizations, EY is committed to building a green and sustainable working world and promoting long-term value creation. With the professional competence and experience of EY teams, we will introduce a multi-dimensional evaluation system to recognize enterprises and individuals who have made substantial contributions to the green and sustainable development of listed companies, in a bid to drive closer collaboration between businesses and the society for mutual benefit.

Jack Chan, EY China Chairman, EY Greater China Regional Managing Partner and ESG Committee Chairman, says: “China's sustainable development path has become clearer after the dual carbon goals were put forward. Driven by the dual carbon goals, various industries are actively mapping out plans toward a sustainable future. An increasing number of enterprises have integrated sustainable development into their production and operations. Being an advocate and practitioner of green transformation and sustainable development, EY is committed to supporting the country's dual carbon goal and is dedicated to collaborating with communities to contribute to green development. In the past two years, EY has achieved carbon neutrality and become carbon negative globally and has set a target to significantly reduce its emissions by 40% to accomplish its carbon ambition of becoming net zero by 2025. Furthermore, the EY Greater China region has set up the ESG Management Committee and released its first Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report, which exhibits the concept and implementation of purpose-driven sustainable development, and value-creation for society. EY has been committed to connecting with communities to keep enterprises updated of the latest policies, accelerate technology innovation, transformation and business upgrade, establish a sustainable green finance ecosystem, and contribute to the green development. This is also why we are organizing the Inaugural CSO Forum and Sustainability Excellence Awards.”

The selection criteria of the awards will focus on the enterprises’ implementation of dual carbon goals. We will collect information on the best practices in sustainability of Chinese companies; invite industry experts, academia, entrepreneurs and institutional investors to an independent judging panel; and conduct stringent assessment of the cases to ensure an impartial and scientific selection procedure.

The judging panel will evaluate the entries in a fair, transparent and impartial manner with reference to the latest global sustainability assessment system and ESG standards. Sustainable initiatives will be assessed in accordance with its commercial value, societal benefits and technical impact. The most innovative, economical and replicable projects will be shortlisted. Enterprises and individuals who have made significant contributions will be recognized.

Michael Bi, EY Greater China Markets Managing Partner and Vice Chairman of the ESG Committee of the Greater China Region, says: “EY has always been supporting enterprises and organizations in sustainable development. The team is devoted in transforming sustainable development consensus into sustainable development competence, facilitating low-carbon transformation for industries, and serving the country's high-quality development. The awards program, with the theme ‘creating long-term, building a trusted future’, strives to deliver professional sustainability service and high-end business resources to enterprises in full force, and to establish a trusted foundation for long-term development.”

The dual carbon goals will transform the economic and social development of China and require tremendous efforts to address the challenges ahead.

With the successive introduction of carbon initiatives for several key industries, and under the “dual-wheels" of national policies and market mechanisms, it is foreseeable that a set of best practice in low-carbon transformation and sustainable high-quality development will entice more resources in China. CSOs and enterprises who are ready for green development will see enormous opportunities and be able to achieve sustainability through external investment and internal enhancement.

EY will continue to leverage the experiences and resource network in the field of sustainable development to influence and support clients in response to climate change, to achieve green and sustainable development, and to contribute to the nation’s green advancement and global sustainability.

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