{"id":8540,"date":"2024-06-20T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/?p=8540"},"modified":"2024-06-19T19:42:46","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T11:42:46","slug":"greenpeace-report-tracks-measurable-progress-among-chinas-top-asset-managers-but-still-no-net-zero-targets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/press\/8540\/greenpeace-report-tracks-measurable-progress-among-chinas-top-asset-managers-but-still-no-net-zero-targets\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenpeace report tracks measurable progress among China\u2019s top asset managers, but still no net zero targets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Beijing – <\/strong>A Greenpeace East Asia analysis of CNY 3.06 trillion of equity investments by sixteen leading asset managers (AMs) in China finds that six of them released their environmental disclosure reports and seven AMs disclosed carbon emissions for their funds for the first time in 2023, while CNY 267.2 billion goes to high-carbon sectors, including fossil fuel industries.<\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace East Asia\u2019s climate and energy campaigner Yuan Yuan (she\/her) said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\u201cSince our 2022 assessment, we\u2019ve seen notable progress in asset managers\u2019 climate risk governance. Asset managers\u2019 awareness of climate risk has improved, as has proactive management of those risks. But across the board, climate action and related commitments must speed up drastically. Chinese asset managers should further align with internationally recognized standards and champion sustainable asset management practices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

The report analyzes sixteen leading Chinese mutual fund managers based on their assets under management (AUM), place of incorporation, and data availability, examining two core themes, climate-related risk governance and concrete climate actions. The report followed the overall research framework of our 2022 report, but with an updated methodology.<\/p>\n\n

The research finds that all AMs have made notable progress in climate-related risk governance since our last report. In terms of concrete climate actions, in 2023, six AMs started releasing their environmental disclosure reports, and seven AMs started disclosing carbon emissions for their pilot funds, more started disclosing the methods, progress, and outcomes of actively managing investee companies\u2019 low-carbon transitions. Some asset management companies, such as Southern Asset Management, Bosera Asset Management, and Yinhua Fund Management, have already developed the internal methodology to account for the carbon footprint of their portfolios, and are capable of achieving more progressive regulation.<\/p>\n\n

The analysis finds that among a total of CNY 3.06 trillion of equity investments by the 16 AMs, CNY 267.2 billion was invested in assets with high-carbon footprints, including CNY 74 billion in fossil fuel-related investments.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n

Yuan said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe investment in high-carbon assets shows a significant exposure to climate risks. There are no unified definitions or guiding principles of transition finance at the moment. It\u2019s difficult to see if these AMs are meaningfully engaging with investee companies to foster their low-carbon transitions. Asset managers have the responsibility to push stronger transitions in high-carbon industries, and they need to develop detailed engagement strategies for investee companies on climate issues. Asset managers also need to develop their own transition plans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Meanwhile, tracking of 40 sustainability-themed mutual fund products with AUM of about CNY 18.94 billion issued by the AMs since 2021 shows that 16 of them invested in fossil fuel industries. A further analysis of five actively managed1<\/a><\/sup> \u201ccarbon neutral\u201d funds finds that, although the two funds share similar descriptions of investment strategies, Harvest Fund Management\u2019s carbon neutral fund had an 80% investment ratio in high-carbon industries, while the investment ratio of Wells Fargo\u2019s carbon neutral fund was the lowest among the five funds, at 1.4% investment in high-carbon companies.<\/p>\n\n

Yuan said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\u201cESG investing guidelines became a major source of progress in sustainable investing in China. However, unclear definitions and lack of disclosures of sustainability-themed investment products present greenwashing risks for \u2018carbon neutral\u2019 funds. Regulations on disclosure would provide critical oversight for sustainable and green assets. Benchmarking against international standards will also become more necessary as international investors become more important for China\u2019s asset managers as the demand for sustainable and green capital grows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace\u2019s research suggests China\u2019s policymakers speed up the draft of regulations, guidelines, and frameworks dedicated to the asset management industry. Asset managers must also urgently translate their awareness into concrete actions by setting up net-zero targets and plans and disclosing investment-related carbon emissions as soon as possible.<\/p>\n\n

NOTES<\/p>\n\n

    \n
  1. \u00a0Actively managed funds: A type of investment fund where professional managers actively make decisions to buy and sell assets, aiming to outperform market benchmarks and achieve higher returns.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n

    ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

    Read the full report in English here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

    For media enquiries please contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

    Qilin Liu, Greenpeace East Asia, Beijing, (qilin.liu@greenpeace.org)<\/p>\n\n

    Greenpeace International Press Desk, pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org, +31 20 718 2470 (24 hours)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A Greenpeace East Asia analysis of CNY 3.06 trillion of equity investments by sixteen leading asset managers (AMs) in China finds that six of them released their environmental disclosure reports and seven AMs disclosed carbon emissions for their funds for the first time in 2023, while CNY 267.2 billion goes to high-carbon sectors, including fossil fuel industries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":8545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":"[{\"id\":\"be962218-ff27-4614-b858-63ce10d67646\",\"content\":\"\"}]"},"categories":[2],"tags":[6],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-8540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-energy","tag-climate-impacts","p4-page-type-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8540"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8548,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8540\/revisions\/8548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8540"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=8540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}