China's stock exchanges release guidelines on corporate sustainability disclosure

BEIJING - Three major stock exchanges in China released Thursday their first guidelines on corporate sustainability disclosure and started to seek public opinion.

According to the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE), companies included in the SSE 180, STAR 50, SZSE 100 indexes and the ChiNext Index, as well as those listed both at home and abroad, are required to publish their 2025 sustainability reports before April 30, 2026.

The capitalization of the related companies in total accounted for 51 percent of the entire market.

Meanwhile, companies listed on the Beijing Stock Exchange, generally small and medium-sized innovative enterprises, can issue voluntary disclosures, according to the exchange.

The guidelines covering the environmental, social and governance fields are expected to improve corporate sustainability disclosure.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission vowed to build and improve the corporate sustainability disclosure in a three-year action plan on improving the quality of listed companies in November 2022. The bourses have since been working to compile the disclosure guidelines.

The exchanges said they will hear and study suggestions from market participants on the guidelines and make public release in a timely manner.