HKEX releases ESG consultation paper 22 May 2019Hong Kong Reporter: Maddie Saghir
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The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong has published an environmental, social and governance (ESG) consultation paper to support and improve issuer’s governance disclosure of ESG activities and metrics.
The consultation, a Review of the Environmental, Social and Governance Reporting Guide and related Listing Rules, suggested that introducing mandatory disclosure requirements in the reporting guide should include a board statement setting out the board’s consideration of ESG issues.
It noted that it should also include applications of relevant reporting principles and boundaries in the ESG report, the paper outlined.
Further key proposals included requiring disclosure of significant climate-related issues which have impacted and may impact the issuer, and amending the “environmental” key performance indicators (KPIs) to require disclosure of relevant targets.
Additionally, upgrading the disclosure obligation of “social” KPIs to “comply or explain”, was also listed in the exchange’s key proposals.
The exchange proposed to shorten the deadline for publication of ESG reports to align with the publication timeframe of the annual report.
The deadline for responding to the ESG Consultation is 19 July this year and interested parties are encouraged to respond by submitting a questionnaire.
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