第26届联合国气候变化大会（COP26）于11月中旬在格拉斯哥结束，人类历史上首次达成了减少化石燃料使用的决议，大会也再次将对环境、社会、治理（ESG）议题的关注引致高潮。作为全球第二大经济体，中国也开始加速拥抱ESG概念和实践。
世界经济论坛（World Economic Forum）发布的《2020年全球风险报告》显示，ESG相关风险或将对未来产生严重影响。资本也越来越多地将ESG纳入投资分析与决策过程之中。ESG风险管理对任何组织的长远发展都极为关键。
ESG以气候及环境保护为初衷，逐步深入到社会影响与公司治理领域，越来越大地影响着国家、企业及个人的决策过程。无论今年 10月在中国云南举行的生物多样性会议，还是刚刚结束的COP26，都全所未有地激发了公众关注，一定程度加大了国家和企业解决相关问题的压力。
“未来两年内ESG领域的立法，将可能超过过去二十年的总和……ESG虽然范围很广，但并非要求企业针对全部领域展开合规工作，企业可以选择与自身最相关的ESG合规指标。”
- 杨志鹏，大成律师事务所
“ESG虽然范围很广，但并非要求企业针对全部领域展开合规工作，企业可以选择与自身最相关的ESG合规指标。”大成全球ESG业务中国区牵头人杨志鹏律师解释说，“目前能够对企业造成重大社会影响的ESG风险主要集中在环境和人权领域。”
杨律师指出，全球对于ESG的理解并不同步。在他看来，目前金融行业对于ESG的认知程度远高于其他领域。“无论私募或国家主权基金，其职业经理人需要上方对接投资人，下方对接项目，在项目选择标准上，ESG已经成为了受到普遍认可的工具。”杨律师说。
全球资金正在源源不断地流入ESG领域。杨律师指出，2020-2021年，全球股权基金募集资金的84%都流入了ESG基金；去年，苏格兰遗孀基金宣布将从ESG不达标公司剥离近5 亿英镑资金；专家预计，到2030年，全球ESG投资将达1万亿美元。
伴随中国资产在全球的重要性提升，杨律师观察到资方对ESG的关注已经开始对中国企业产生影响。“比如我们的某些企业客户被中东的股权基金收购，它要求公司全球管理层的KPI中5-10%和ESG相关。境外基金的投资方普遍也很关注碳排放问题。”他说。
ESG也潜藏着如何解读标准的危机，例如年初沸沸扬扬的“新疆棉”问题，以及今年年中，中美国海关边境保护局针对国渔业及光伏行业发布禁止进口的“暂扣令”事件。
伴随国际社会意识提升的还有相关领域的监管强化，法律法规正在以爆发态势增长。大成预计，未来两年内ESG领域的立法，将可能超过过去二十年的总和。
虽然中国企业对ESG概念仍普遍陌生，但杨律师指出，“因为ESG国际标准不统一，各国ESG立法仍处以起步阶段，中国企业在ESG方面的压力并不是特别大”。尤其是环保领域，得益于“中国在环境法方面的要求和执法力度，已经接近全球最严格水平”，中国标准与国际ESG标准不存在较大差距。他预期，未来中国企业将在ESG领域扮演积极角色。
根据世界经济论坛数据，尤其在上市企业ESG披露方面，中国已取得较大进展。截至2020年年中，共有1021家中国A股企业发布了年度ESG报告，远超2009年的371家企业。“国内监管者也在推动中国企业ESG报告的发展。自2016年起，香港交易所就要求上市公司发布ESG报告，并于2020年7月更新了信息披露要求。预计监管者也将针对在上海和深圳上市的企业发布全新的ESG报告要求。”经济论坛指出。
ESG给律所带来新机会
伴随ESG受到国际社会广泛关注，律师事务所也正在快速投入ESG领域业务。杨志鹏律师告诉ALB，ESG是今年大成唯一的全球性市场推广项目。“大成在今年组建了全球ESG领导团队，由各区域环境法以及合规方面的负责人牵头，其中亚洲ESG小组的三位负责人分别位于中国内地、香港和新加坡，针对资本市场、供应链等领域提供有针对性的ESG咨询服务。”他说。
除了专门的工作组，大成还在网站推出了中英文版“ESG全球解决方案（ESG global solution）”专区，并推出“ESG 中心（ESG Hub）”，由区域负责人对本地重点ESG问题、法规提供跟进解读。
除了对客户提供理念层面的支持，杨律师指出，大成也已经接触到了实际业务。“目前大成做的全球项目，很多和企业在非洲的矿产投资相关，这类项目在环境和人权方面存在着较大挑战。”他说。
此外，大成也在帮助客户做ESG项下，产品符合绿色可持续发展要求的声明。在投资并购领域，也开始为客户提供范围更宽、更深度的尽职调查。
杨律师举了两个例子。一是被投资企业的环境合规调查，“过去只要企业证照齐全，就被认为是环境合规，现在会去调查企业是否真的履行了证照要求的环保义务”；另外在劳动法方面，“市场上已经有单独做深入劳动法尽调的律师……现实中我们发现有些企业的生产环境容易引发某类职业禁忌，需要调查企业是否定期对工作环境进行现状评估、是否真正落实了调岗制度等”。
全球化时代，企业的生产行为常常遍布各地，分支机构众多的律所能够更好地帮助客户提供跨国调查。“有些顶尖国际律所的办公室数量较少，他们的客户如果做全球ESG合规，有些项目分包给了大成来完成。”杨律师坦言。
“未来我们将重点关注全球范围内的碳排放强制汇报义务、生物多样性、报废产品企业责任、工作场所福利和平、现代奴役问题。”他说。
中国企业如何应对ESG要求？
适应性强、反应快是中国企业的两大特点，它们无疑将帮助中国企业在“ESG时代”更敏锐地完成恰当的自我转型。
面对ESG全球认知尚未统一的现状，杨志鹏律师建议，企业应首先确定自己希望参照的标准，“例如现在有全球报告倡议组织（GRI）标准、赤道原则（EP）、可持续发展会计准则委员会（SASB）标准等，从不同角度定义了ESG，企业应该先判断：哪个标准比较适合我？”
ESG国际标准和国内法之间还存在协调问题。通常来说，中国企业在国内当然应该以国内法为准，但难题是，海外投资时，企业到底应该以中国法、东道国法，还是其他为准？
杨律师建议道，此时“对中国企业而言，国际条约是较为合适的参照物”。除了《巴黎协定》《可持续发展目标》《负责任投资原则》《生物多样性公约》等国际公约外，一些国际非官方组织也制定有ESG标准。在杨律师看来，非官方组织的ESG标准“也有极大的、逐渐被法律认可的可能性”，因此企业可以根据所在行业与产品选择主动承诺：例如在承诺按照联合国《负责任投资原则》运营的全球400家企业中，60家为中资企业，该数字还在逐年增长。
确定了应遵守的ESG标准后，企业需要关注商业场景下的严格合规。杨律师指出，一方面是在投资并购时，关注被投企业是否ESG合规；另一方面则是关注供应链合规。
“中国企业在全球供应链中占据至关重要的地位。”杨律师指出，“例如今年德国颁布了《供应链法》，未来和德企合作的中国一二级供应商都要符合ESG合规。相信未来更多跨国企业在中国进行采购，或者中国企业进行跨国采购，都会要求供应商实现ESG合规……这方面将需要律师重点提供服务。”
CHINESE COMPANIES RAMPING UP ESG PRACTICE
The 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), which ended in Glasgow in mid-November and produced the first-ever resolution to reduce fossil fuel use, has once again brought into sharp focus Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) issues. As the world's second largest economy, China has also begun to accelerate its takeup of ESG concepts and practices.
According to the Global Risks Report 2020 released by the World Economic Forum, ESG-related risks are expected to have a significant impact on mankind's future, and capital is also increasingly incorporating ESG into investment analysis and decision-making. Therefore, ESG risk management is critical to the long-term development of any organization.
Initially focusing on climate and environmental protection, ESG now encompasses social influence and corporate governance, increasingly affecting the decision-making by countries, businesses, and individuals. Whether it is the COP15 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity held in Yunnan, China this October, or the just-concluded COP26, the public has never paid so much attention to ESG issues, which has, to some extent, increased the pressure on governments and businesses to address relevant problems.
- Gary Yang, Dentons China
Gary Yang, China leader of Dentons’ global ESG solutions, says that different levels of understanding of ESG exist around the world. In his view, the financial sector has a much higher awareness of ESG than other fields at the moment. "In terms of project selection criteria, ESG has already become a generally recognized tool." Yang says, “Because whether it is private equity or national sovereign fund, its professional manager needs to coordinate investors at one end and projects at the other end.”
However, despite its wide scope, ESG does not require companies to ensure compliance in all areas, he says. “Companies can select ESG compliance indicators that are most relevant to them," notes Yang. "At present, ESG risks that may cause significant social impact on enterprises are mainly about the environment and human rights."
Global capital keep flowing into ESG. According to Yang, from 2020 to 2021, 84 percent of the funds raised by global investors have gone into ESG. Last year, investment and insurance firm Scottish Widows also announced that it would divest nearly 500 million pounds ($664 million) from companies who fail to meet ESG standards. Experts predict that by 2030, global ESG investment will top $1 trillion.
With the increasing importance of Chinese assets around the world, Yang notices that investors' attention to ESG has begun to affect Chinese companies as well. "Offshore funds are also generally concerned about carbon emission, for example, some of our clients are acquired by Middle East equity funds which require 5 to 10 percent of a company's global management KPIs to be ESG-related," he says.
How to interpret standards is also a potential minefield of ESG, such as the Xinjiang cotton issue hotly debated at the beginning of the year and the orders to prohibit import from China's fishery and photovoltaic industries issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the middle of 2021.
The rising awareness of the international community is accompanied by the tightening of regulation in related fields, with the number of laws and regulations growing exponentially. Dentons predicts that the number of ESG legislation in the next two years may exceed the total of the past two decades.
Although Chinese companies are still generally unfamiliar with the concept of ESG, Yang points out that "because of the inconsistent international standards of ESG, ESG legislation in various countries is still in its infancy. Therefore, Chinese companies are not particularly pressured at the moment."
Especially in the field of environmental protection, as "China's environmental law requirements and enforcement efforts are already among the world's most stringent," there is no big gap between Chinese and international ESG standards. Yang also expects Chinese companies to play an active role in the ESG field in the future.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR LAW FIRMS
With ESG receiving widespread global attention, law firms are also investing a lot in bolstering their ESG credentials. Yang shares with ALB that ESG was the only global marketing project for Dentons in 2021.
"Dentons established a global ESG leadership team this year, led by various regional heads of environmental law and compliance.” He adds, “The three leaders of the Asian ESG team are based in Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR and Singapore, providing targeted ESG advisory services for capital markets, supply chain and other sectors."
In addition to a dedicated working group, Dentons also launched am "ESG global solution" section on its website and created an "ESG Hub" where regional leaders provide updates on key local ESG issues and regulations.
Apart from providing conceptual support to clients, Yang shares that Dentons is already working on actual projects. "Currently, many global projects we work on concern companies' mineral investments in Africa. Such projects pose greater challenges in terms of the environment and human rights," he says.
In addition, Dentons is also assisting clients with declarations under ESG that their products meet the requirements of green and sustainable development. The firm has also begun to provide clients with wider and deeper due diligence in the field of investment and mergers and acquisitions.
Yang gives two examples. The first is the environmental compliance investigation of a company. "In the past, as long as the company has all the required licenses, it can be considered environmentally-compliant. But now we will investigate whether the company has actually fulfilled the environmental protection obligations required by the licenses."
In terms of labor law, "there are already lawyers who focus on in-depth labor law due diligence...Actually, we have found out that the production environment of some companies is prone to cause certain types of occupational hazards. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate whether such companies regularly assess working environment conditions and whether they have actually implemented the job rotation system."
In the globalization era, an enterprise usually has production activities in multiple locations. Therefore, law firms with a larger number of offices can better help clients with cross-border investigations. "Some top international law firms have a small number of offices. If their clients need global ESG compliance, these law firm will assign some projects to Dentons," Yang says frankly.
"Going forward, we will focus on global carbon emission mandatory reporting obligations, biodiversity, corporate responsibility for end-of-life products, workplace welfare and peace, and modern slavery," Yang adds.
SUGGESTIONS FOR CHINESE COMPANIES
Adaptability and quick response times, being two major characteristics of Chinese companies, will undoubtedly help them better achieve the appropriate self-transformation in the ESG era.
Given the haphazardness of ESG awareness globally, Yang suggests that companies should first determine the standards they wish to refer to. "For example, there are now the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards, the Equator Principles (EP), the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards, etc., each defining ESG from a different angle. An enterprise should first decide which standards best suit it."
However, there are coordination problems between international ESG standards and domestic laws. Although Chinese companies should always follow domestic laws in China, when they invest overseas, should the companies follow Chinese laws, the laws of the host countries or other standards? This is where the difficulty lies.
Yang suggests that for now, "international treaties are more appropriate references for Chinese companies." In addition to international conventions such as the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Principles for Responsible Investment and the Convention on Biological Diversity, some non-governmental organizations have also formulated ESG standards as well.
In Yang’s view, the ESG standards of these organizations "also have great potential of being gradually recognized by law." Therefore, companies may choose to make proactive commitments based on their industries and products. For example, among the 400 global companies who have committed to operating according to the Principles for Responsible Investment, 60 are Chinese companies and the number keeps growing every year.
The next step is to pay attention to strict compliance in business scenarios. According to Yang, when making investment or going through mergers and acquisitions, a company needs to check the ESG and supply chain compliant of the invested company.
"Chinese companies occupy a vital position in the global supply chain." Yang points out, "For example, Germany promulgated the Supply Chain Law this year, meaning first- and second-tier Chinese suppliers that work with German companies must be ESG-compliant going forward. In the future, I believe more multinational companies that procure in China, and Chinese companies that procure internationally will require suppliers to achieve ESG compliance...This will be a key area that needs lawyers' support."
