Mainland stock exchanges issue new sustainability disclosure guidelines

China's stock exchanges have released draft guidelines for corporate sustainability disclosures, marking the latest move toward raising the quality of environmental information disclosures and enhancing the investment appeal of high-quality Chinese listed companies.

The Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing bourses, under the guidance of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, issued the second batch of sustainability reporting guidelines for public consultation on Friday.

Covering pollutant emissions, energy use and water resources, the guidelines provide detailed guidance and standardized methods to help firms better identify risks and opportunities, calculate data and disclose key information.

While reinforcing listed companies' awareness of environmental risks and opportunities, the guidelines do not impose mandatory disclosure requirements beyond the existing framework, experts close to the matter said.

Instead, the guidelines aim to reduce compliance costs and help investors incorporate ESG information into their decision-making, with more practical guides to follow as part of a "batch-by-batch" rollout and to form a comprehensive sustainability disclosure system, they said.

As of June 2025, 1,869 listed companies on the mainland had published sustainability reports, increasing the overall disclosure rate to 34.7 percent — up about 10 percentage points from two years earlier.

By the end of 2024, 32 percent of listed firms in Shanghai and Shenzhen had seen their MSCI ESG ratings upgraded, drawing more foreign investors to increase their holdings.