Photo: CFP

 
China's three major stock exchanges in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing jointly released draft guidelines for corporate sustainability disclosure for listed companies on Thursday. The move is expected to standardize the information disclosure framework and is the latest measure to guide the healthy development of the market.

The guidelines, which are currently open for public comment, aim to strengthen the disclosure of sustainable development information by listed companies in the areas of environment, social responsibility, and corporate governance.

Listed companies included in the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) 180 Index, SSE STAR 50 Index, Shenzhen Stock Exchange 100 Index, and ChiNext Index are required to publish their 2025 annual sustainable development reports by April 30, 2026. 

Innovative and smaller stocks listed on the Beijing Stock Exchange (BSE) can voluntarily follow the disclosure requirements.

The guidelines were released in accordance with a three-year action plan aimed at lifting China's listed companies, issued by China's top regulator in November 2022. 

The action plan, which lasts from 2022 to 2025, requires the establishment of a set of disclosure rules for listed companies on sustainable development based on China's reality and in line with international trends.

The draft rules come as China's securities regulator pledged to step up efforts to stabilize the market with a slew of measures, including targeting short selling and prioritizing the protection of investors' interests. The China Securities Regulatory Commission also stressed the need to accelerate visits and research on listed companies to solve their concrete difficulties and problems.

Chinese equities ended higher on Thursday, the last trading day of the Year of the Rabbit. The total daily turnover of the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses reached nearly 1.02 trillion yuan ($141.75 billion) on Thursday, the second day in a row that the key gauge of market sentiment hit over one trillion yuan.

Global Times