Original comment: Promote sustainable development of industrial parks through ESG information disclosure

The "ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) Development White Paper of Suzhou Industrial Park" was released recently, conveying to the whole society Suzhou Industrial Park's determination to fully integrate sustainable development issues into governance, strategy, and risk management, and also promoting various industrial parks. Sustainable development provides a demonstration.

In my country, 80% of industrial enterprises are concentrated in industrial parks, and the industrial output value of national and provincial parks accounts for an average of 50% of the country's total. As a gathering place for industrial enterprises, industrial parks have become the main front for promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of my country's enterprises. Applying ESG to industrial parks will not only help the park find out its financial background and promote the sustainable development of the park and its enterprises, but also enhance the brand image of the park and attract companies that pay attention to ESG to settle in or cooperate, thereby forming park characteristics and enhancing the park's competitiveness.

However, the current development of ESG in my country's industrial parks is not objective. The "2022 Park ESG Development Index" released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences shows that there are 377 parks that failed the ESG development index, accounting for 93% of the total sample; more than 98% of the parks do not have a responsible department to coordinate ESG work;95.8% of the parks have not formulated ESG work systems or carried out ESG-related research; only 15 parks systematically disclose ESG information through official website columns, special reports, sustainable development reports, etc. This reflects that industrial parks still lack sufficient awareness and attention to ESG.

From voluntary disclosure by leading companies to regulatory agencies issuing new regulations to implement mandatory disclosure by listed companies, my country's ESG information disclosure has been accelerating in the past year or two. All industrial parks must recognize the situation as soon as possible, take the initiative, and use ESG information disclosure to promote sustainable development of the park.

The lack of unified ESG standards and guidelines has always been an important factor restricting ESG work in parks, and has also become a reason why some parks have been slow to carry out ESG-related work. The standard work on the "General Rules for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Evaluation of Economic Development Zones" was launched in June this year. This move will help fill the gap and make future ESG-related work in industrial parks subject to rules and regulations. It can be expected that with the promulgation of the "General Rules for Evaluation", mandatory disclosure of ESG information in industrial parks will be around the corner. Each industrial park must make corresponding preparations in advance, such as establishing a responsible department for ESG-related work, improving ESG-related work systems, and collecting ESG-related information and data of enterprises in the park in advance.

In recent years, more and more companies have strengthened ESG information disclosure, and more and more investment institutions have incorporated ESG into investment decisions, which has brought broad market prospects to the ESG service industry. Global Data global data shows that the current ESG talent gap is as high as 2 million people. The "China ESG Financial Talent Career Development Report" released by the CFA Institute shows that there is currently a large gap between the supply and demand of professional talents, and the problem of shortage of knowledge and capabilities remains serious. It can be seen that the ESG service industry is still a blue ocean. Parks with conditions should speed up their layout and seize the ESG service market. For example, while promoting ESG practice across the region, Suzhou Industrial Park is proactively planning and laying out the development of ESG industry; the "Suzhou Industrial Park ESG Industry Development Action Plan" clarifies that by 2025, the scale of the region's ESG industry will exceed 65 billion yuan, an increase of more than 50% compared with 2022. Each industrial park must have a strategic vision and deploy the ESG service industry as soon as possible to make it a new economic growth point in the park.

Bright ESG reports are not written, but made. All industrial parks must aim at sustainable development, continuously optimize operation management and risk control, and continuously improve ESG performance. For example, Prosperity Asset Operation Services has adopted technological and digital measures in recent years to promote the ESG transformation of logistics parks. While introducing automatic sorting systems to improve operational efficiency, we also deployed new energy infrastructure such as rooftop photovoltaics to reduce operating costs and carbon emissions, delivered outstanding ESG results and won recognition from enterprises and society. Compared with individual enterprises, industrial parks have stronger overall coordination capabilities and can promote the sustainable development of the park through the construction of new energy facilities, optimization of the layout of upstream and downstream industrial chains, and construction of "green island" projects.

Industrial parks are the engine of my country's economic development. They have also actively assumed social responsibilities in the new era. They use ESG as the starting point to lead the green and low-carbon transformation of park enterprises and provide a steady stream of new momentum for the high-quality development of my country's economy.