Over the past few years, the global ESG landscape has entered a period of evolution. While sustainability, governance, and responsible business practices remain important priorities for many organisations, approaches to ESG implementation and reporting have become increasingly varied across regions and industries. Regulatory developments such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) continue to shape disclosure standards, while companies and investors globally are reassessing how ESG initiatives align with broader business, risk management, and long-term value creation objectives.
Notable examples include the fund manager Blackrock, who in the summer of 2024 announced they had significantly reduced their support for shareholder proposals addressing environmental and social issues. From July 2023 until June 2024, the firm backed only 4% of the 493 such proposals. The consumer goods giant Unilever, long regarded as a shining example of a company that combined success with enthusiastic ESG initiative-taking, has scrapped, among other things, commitments to pay fair wages to direct suppliers by 2030. Other examples include the Net Zero Banking Alliance which launched in 2021 to align bank lending portfolios with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 but by late 2025 had ceased to exist after members voted to disband the alliance structure.
Interestingly, ESG’s momentum in other parts of the world has picked up just as the United States has seemingly lost interest. The past year has seen China transitioning from a mostly voluntary ESG system to one based on enforced ESG disclosure. The Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing stock exchanges have implemented their mandatory sustainability reporting guidelines with 2025 serving as the first reporting year and an April 2026 deadline for the first reports. Likewise, the country has announced a roadmap that will see a unified national ESG disclosure system which will mandate sustainability reporting across all non-listed companies and SMEs by 2030.
This development aligns with a broader global movement toward greater consistency in sustainability reporting. The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has been working to establish a common global baseline for sustainability-related financial disclosures, helping investors and businesses compare ESG performance across markets and jurisdictions.
Launched in 2022, the Fortune China ESG Impact List has already become a desirable accolade for the country’s major enterprises with industrial giants such as Jingko Solar, Tongwei and Longi boasting of their inclusion alongside the mega-retailer JD. Chinese companies are beginning to compete for ESG accolades the same way they do for margins, showing a business culture in constant evolution.
This is also noticeable in the initiative shown by Chinese multinationals not just to meet international ESG standards but to help customers meet their own compliance needs. For example, Chinese AIoT Service Provider Dahua Technology, has made compliance in cybersecurity, public health and safety, and environmental risk central to its client-facing operations.
The company’s products are certified to the highest safety and security standards, including the Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 3 qualification for its hardware and the Cloud Security Alliance Star certification for its software. The latter means their equipment can meet the toughest public procurement requirements, providing invaluable peace of mind for prospective customers.
Dahua’s commitment to going above and beyond requirements also applies to legislation. In response to the EU Cybersecurity Resilience Act and the NIS2 directive, Dahua incorporated a ‘Security by Default’ and ‘Privacy by Default’ policy for all its products. And for customers with any questions or concerns over compliance the Dahua Product Security Incident Response Team encourages customers, partners and security researchers to bring to their attention any issues with their product, especially its safety and ESG standards.
Another Chinese business with an ethos of excelling in compliance is the e-commerce giant Alibaba. The company runs an AI-powered SaaS platform called Energy Expert which is designed to help other companies track, analyse and report on their ESG impacts. This platform tracks carbon emissions throughout a company’s supply chain and operations while helping draft reports that align with global standards such as those of the International Sustainability Standards Board. The software then provides optimisation suggestions for improving energy use and reducing environmental footprints. Whether for cybersecurity or carbon footprint, Chinese firms have made helping other companies with their compliance needs a key part of their service.
The growing emphasis on ESG in China also reflects a wider recognition that sustainability is becoming an important component of long-term competitiveness. The World Economic Forum has consistently highlighted the role of responsible business practices, transparent governance, and sustainable value creation in building resilient economies and attracting investment. As sustainability expectations continue to evolve, companies that can effectively integrate ESG considerations into their operations may be better positioned to navigate future regulatory, market, and stakeholder demands.
While ESG momentum has moderated in parts of the United States, interest in sustainability and corporate responsibility remains strong in many sectors.The concept has taken off in China, where corporate cultures have become increasingly more socially engaged and value conscious. This is both through a firm’s own ESG performance and through the spread of compliance-oriented services that assist others in meeting these standards. Chinese companies are increasingly integrating ESG principles into their business strategies, reflecting the country’s evolving regulatory and corporate landscape, domestically and internationally, demonstrating that corporate responsibility can and must remain at the heart of a successful business.
