Fosun Participates in Morgan Stanley’s 7th Annual Sustainable Futures Conference, Demonstrating ESG Achievements and Commitments
May 26, 2022, New York – The 7th Annual Morgan Stanley Sustainable Futures Conference was hosted in a hybrid mode on Monday, May 23 to Wednesday, May 25, 2022. Intensifying focus on sustainability from multiple stakeholders positions environmental and social issues as key priorities for companies in 2022. This year's conference featured corporates from a range of sectors who will discuss their sustainability strategies, addressing a variety of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) themes and topics as they manage against an evolving landscape.
Invited by the organizer, Fosun International (the Group) participated in the conference for two straight years, and as the sole Chinese corporation speaker this year. Ning Jin, Executive Director of IR & Treasury, on behalf of Fosun, joined a virtual fireside chat moderated by Ehsernta Fu, Morgan Stanley Research, and talked about Fosun’s sustainable development and recent achievements in ESG to audience and investors all over the globe.
Ms. Jin first introduced Fosun’s mission of “creating happier lives for families worldwide” and four major businesses, namely health, happiness, wealth, and intelligent manufacturing. Entering its 30th anniversary, Fosun has developed business for good with a customer-oriented focus. Fosun joined the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) in 2014, and has been devoted to the global commitment to sustainable development. “We have been improving ESG rating for three consecutive years, and we are the only conglomerate in Greater China with an MSCI ESG rating of AA as of 2021.” Said Jin.
Jin mentioned that Fosun has set a carbon reduction target – “to achieve carbon emissions peak by 2028 and carbon neutrality by 2050”. Particularly, Atlantis Sanya, one of the member companies of Fosun Tourism Group, was awarded the carbon neutrality certificate, which was the first carbon neutrality certificate obtained by tourism enterprises in Hainan Province in China. In addition, Nanjing Iron & Steel rolled out multiple initiatives such as product lifecycle management, PV power generation, green logistics, and research on innovative technology to fulfill its energy and climate change commitments.
In terms of social responsibilities, Fosun, as a global enterprise rooted in China, while actively creating business value, attaches great importance to corporate social responsibility and actively brings contribution to the society through public welfare programs such as supporting the combat against the pandemic, assisting in the fight against malaria in Africa, running the Rural Doctors Program, fostering education, culture and entrepreneurship.
Talking about governance, Fosun is committed to safeguarding the interests of shareholders through high-standard corporate governance and ethical business operations and to enhance its corporate value and accountability. In order to ensure the smooth and continuous progress of ESG work, Fosun has established a top-down and long-term mechanism for ESG improvement. Fosun includes ESG management performance as an evaluation factor in the Board and senior management’ performance assessment and remuneration assessment.
“To further improve the ESG management system, Fosun has set up an ESG Board Committee under the Board of Directors to assist the Board in guiding and overseeing the Group’s ESG development and implementation; at the management and decision level, Fosun has established an ESG Management Committee under the ESG Executive Committee to provide decision support for the implementation of ESG strategies. At the implementation level, the Group has also set up an ESG Management Committee and an ESG Working Group to implement ESG strategies and related actions and ensure the establishment of appropriate and effective ESG risk management and internal control system.” Jin detailed how the ESG governance system works in Fosun.
In the Q&A session, Jin further explained Fosun’s roadmap to achieve goals on carbon emission. “We will continuously build a green and low-carbon management system and take measures to mitigate, adapt to and resist climate change. The Group has integrated energy saving and greenhouse gas emissions reduction as key considerations into the environmental health and safety audit system, and annually conducts the group-level audit on member companies to urge their self-supervisions.”
To answer a question about “Fosun for Good, Operation with Love”, Jin pointed out that in 2021 the donation of Fosun Foundation was over RMB 153,803,621, including public welfare donation of over RMB 106,827,965, community investment of more than RMB 46,870,000, and business initiatives of over RMB 105,656. She also took the examples of Fosun’s innovation-driven and technology-enabled pandemic containment such as the co-development of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines, as well as the anti-pandemic battles in China and around the world.
Moreover, Jin demonstrated Fosun’s sound corporate governance structure and its ever-optimizing governance. As of 2021, the Board currently comprises 15 directors, with 7 executive directors, 3 non-executive directors and 5 independent non-executive directors. Among them, 2 directors are female. As of the issue date of our 2021 ESG Report, Fosun’s global partners have reached more than 140 from China, Japan, India, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Portugal, the United States, Israel, etc. “Fosun recognizes and embraces the benefit of having a diverse governance and believes that increasing diversity in governance will help Fosun maintain a competitive advantage and achieve long-term sustainable growth.” Concluded Jin.
About Fosun
Founded in 1992, Fosun is a global innovation-driven consumer group dedicated to providing high-quality products and services for families around the world in Health, Happiness, Wealth, and Intelligent Manufacturing segments. In 2007, Fosun International Limited was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (stock code: 00656.HK). In 2021, Fosun International’s total revenue was RMB161.3 billion and total assets amounted to RMB806.4 billion. Fosun International ranks No.589 on the 2022 Forbes Global 2000 List, with a MSCI ESG rating of AA.