New Insights Into Chinese ESG

We were recently granted the opportunity to include data on hundreds of companies from one of the leading Chinese ESG analysis firms—SynTao Green Finance (STGF). We had known of this firm’s work since around 2010 and have looked forward to having its help to better understand Chinese company behavior.

SynTao Green Finance is a leading consultancy providing professional services in green finance and responsible investment in China. It provides consulting and researching services in responsible investment, ESG data, green bond verification, and other green finance areas. They have now shared with us both overall ratings (stated in bond-rating style A-, B+ format) and E, S, G, and risk scores for more than 500 Chinese companies and will soon be 4,000 companies.

A simple comparison of the STGF top level ESG score with our Overall Rating gives about a 5% correlation. This relationship is low but significant (F > 6) and seems to be consistent over time (we received score history back to 2018). The strongest relationships are between the Environment and Employee scores—there is less connection with our Community and Governance measures.

CSRHub has data on more than 3,800 Chinese entities—mostly from source who are working from outside of China. We provide ratings on 3,420 of them. We are not surprised our “outside in” view of Chinese sustainability is different from STGF’s “inside out” view.

STGF’s data will strengthen the core of our coverage and broaden our perspective on how Chinese companies are performing on ESG issues. We hope you will take a moment to look at the companies STGF covers and consider ways their data could be useful for your needs.

Bahar Gidwani is CTO and Co-founder of CSRHub.  He has built and run large technology-based businesses for many years. Bahar holds a CFA, worked on Wall Street with Kidder, Peabody, and with McKinsey & Co. Bahar has consulted to a number of major companies and currently serves on the board of several software and Web companies. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree in physics and astronomy. He plays bridge, races sailboats, and is based in New York City.

About CSRHub

CSRHub offers one of the world’s broadest and most consistent set of Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings, covering 50,000 companies. Its Big Data algorithm combines millions of data points on ESG performance from hundreds of sources, including leading ESG analyst raters, to produce consensus scores on all aspects of corporate social responsibility and sustainability. CSRHub ratings can be used to drive corporate, investor and consumer decisions. For more information, visit www.CSRHub.com. CSRHub is a B Corporation.