(Focusing on Boao) Companies Reassess ESG: From "Cost Burden" to "Value Engine"

Ask AI · How can ESG transform from a cost burden into a value engine?

China News Service (Zhongxin She) Boao, March 26 (Tao Siyue). The annual meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia in 2026 is being held in Boao, Hainan. At the sub-forum held on the 26th, “Re-understanding ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance): Corporate Responsibility and Opportunities,” multiple guests attending pointed out that ESG was initially seen as companies’ costs and responsibilities, but is now understood as a yardstick for corporate value and resilience.

Li Xiaofei, deputy general manager of Datang Group, used the Silk Road Energy Joint Science and Technology R&D Center established in Uzbekistan as an example to explain how adopting ESG concepts and organizing Chinese new energy industry-chain leading enterprises to go overseas in a group can promote the integrated “landing and rooting” of technology, equipment, and services abroad. It also helps upgrade the host country’s new energy industry technology promotion, standards development, and talent cultivation.

Passthought of AstraZeneca’s global senior executive vice president Pusi Tong also said that ESG is not about restricting corporate profit growth. Using the appropriate and correct approach can, in fact, bring benefits from ESG. For example, when procuring, companies can make greater use of local procurement, and further decarbonize the procurement supply chain by leveraging technology and intelligent management.

“Traditional papermaking is also facing enormous environmental challenges. Companies should turn green demand into the driving force for industrial upgrading, and convert the ecological bottom line into the foundation for long-term competitiveness.” Zhai Jingli, deputy chief executive officer of APP of Gold Hong Group, said that environmental challenges involve not only higher requirements for emissions reduction, but also changes in the structure of market demand.

She believes that industrial competition is not only about how well companies can make their existing products, but also about whether companies can provide new solutions around new social issues, consumption scenarios, and rules of the game. For example, for pulp and papermaking, the rapid growth in areas such as e-commerce logistics, food and beverage, and healthcare has put forward entirely new requirements for packaging materials—such as high performance, safety, biodegradability, and lightweight design that is easy to recycle.

Eni China Chairman Zanni Di Giovanni saw the value of trust in the ESG field. ESG has become a company’s “strategic asset,” with clear, measurable indicators and open communication, which is very important for attracting investment and business partners—thereby reducing the company’s financial costs and financing costs.

“Hong Kong’s stock market has formed systematic requirements for ESG reports, while the A-share market formed social responsibility reports many years ago.” An Yong Greater China region business management partner Bi Shunjie said that many companies did not know what ESG was at first, believing it was a cost. Now they are pursuing corporate culture and an upstream-and-downstream ecosystem linked to ESG. ESG has already become an essential condition for companies to maintain vitality and competitiveness.

“Bottom line: ESG reconstructs a company’s value system, going beyond a purely economic value assessment. Investors value ESG in order to mitigate environmental and social governance risks.” Sun Xuanzhong, founder of the Business School at China University of Political Science and Law and a standing council member of the China International Exchange and Promotion Association, believes that rethinking ESG is not an optional “multiple-choice question,” but a “required answer.” The goal of managing ESG must be brought forward into corporate planning. (End)