From October 16 to 18, the 2025 Sustainable Global Leaders Conference was held at Expo Park in Huangpu District, Shanghai, themed 「Joining Hands to Address Challenges: Global Actions, Innovations, and Sustainable Growth.」
As a key extension of the conference, the organizers collaborated with various institutions to host a benchmark enterprise ESG tour on the afternoon of October 17, visiting the headquarters of CPIC Property Insurance, a partner organization. Nearly 20 guests, including representatives from international organizations in the ESG field, leading industry enterprises, esteemed scholars from well-known universities and business schools, as well as representatives from professional research institutions, were invited to explore how CPIC Property Insurance systematically integrates ESG strategies from top-level design down to frontline operations, and to discuss the development trends of ESG principles and their impact on corporate sustainability.
Seeing into Sustainable Development Principles The attendees were invited to conduct site visits to gain first-hand insights into the development history of CPIC Property Insurance and its systematic exploration and innovative practices in the ESG domain, engaging in discussions on the ESG practices among Chinese enterprises.
In his welcome speech, General Manager Chen Hui emphasized that insurance companies are professional risk management institutions, playing a role as a "shock absorber" and "stabilizer" in addressing climate change and enhancing social resilience. Since 2020, CPIC Property Insurance has incorporated sustainable development into their strategic planning and started a systematic layout. By 2024, the green coverage amount provided by CPIC Property Insurance exceeded 146 trillion yuan, launching 37 green insurance products to provide crucial risk protection for key areas such as green energy, green transportation, brown industry transformation, and biodiversity conservation.
As Chen Hui stated during the speech: In the context of the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement and China's announcement of a new round of national contributions, CPIC Property Insurance, as a leading institution in the industry, will consistently uphold the principles of sustainable development, focusing on its core insurance business, actively responding to national strategies and societal needs, and leveraging the unique functions of the insurance industry in risk protection, social management, and capital utilization to support green development. "We hope to collaborate with all sectors of society with an open mind, innovative spirit, and pragmatic actions to jointly advance towards a sustainable future."
From Vision to Systematic Practice The 「CPIC Pathway」 of Sustainable Development During the exchange, CPIC presented its sustainable development strategy and management system, sharing extensive insights from group level to property insurance business level on explorations and innovations in various fields such as green insurance, responsible investment, climate risk management, and low-carbon operations. Topics covered included the establishment of standards, product service innovation, public engagement promotion, and climate change research, demonstrating a systematic pathway to sustainable development from the perspective of 「CPIC」.
Secretary of the CPIC Group Board Su Shaojun systematically outlined the group’s ESG governance structure and management practices. He noted that CPIC formally proposed its ESG strategy in 2021, establishing a comprehensive direction aimed at sustainable development centered on ESG, and in 2023 initiated a three-year development plan to fully integrate ESG principles into its core operations.
By 2024, CPIC's green investment scale reached 260 billion yuan, and it established an ESG investment management platform to quantitatively assess and manage asset carbon emissions. In climate risk management, CPIC has innovatively developed climate scenario models to analyze long-term climate risk exposures in core businesses such as property insurance, engineering insurance, agricultural insurance, and auto insurance, providing reference samples for the industry.
CPIC is recognized as the first comprehensive insurance institution to set five-year carbon reduction targets and has developed a standardized carbon emission information management system to accurately monitor the carbon footprint of its institutions nationwide. Recently, CPIC received an upgrade in rating from MSCI, a global leader in financial indices and ESG ratings, achieving the highest "AAA" rating, making it the first insurance institution in mainland China to obtain this rating.
The strategy and system of CPIC Group provide solid support for the implementation of its property insurance business. Assistant General Manager Lei Dapeng shared his insights from frontline practices, painting a vivid picture of CPIC's innovations in green insurance.
Using the example of the "Broken Arm Family" elephant migration incident in Yunnan, he illustrated how CPIC collaborated with local governments to introduce public liability insurance for wildlife incidents, compensating economically while constructing elephant warning lights and shelters, and providing early warning services, totaling over 470 million yuan in compensation and promoting the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature, benefiting elephant herds and 300,000 farmers. This vivid example showcases the unique value of insurance in biodiversity governance.
Additionally, Lei Dapeng introduced innovative measures including the first nationwide financial loan for the chemical industry transition in collaboration with banks, wetland carbon sink insurance, a carbon benefit platform, and an AI weather warning system. 「From protecting wild elephants to safeguarding wetlands, from a single platform to a set of standards, CPIC Property Insurance has consistently integrated green responsibility into its developmental DNA,」 Lei summarised, adding, 「We are willing to collaborate with all parties to build a cleaner, more beautiful, and resilient sustainable future together.」
Exploring Future Perspectives in Thought Exchange In the subsequent exchange session, guests from universities, international organizations, and professional institutions engaged in extensive discussions on corporate ESG governance, AI empowerment in ESG development, and sustainable information disclosure and verification, bringing diverse perspectives to the conference.
Professor Huang Bo from the School of Finance and Public Administration at Renmin University of China suggested that ESG should become a key support for the 「high-quality development」 of Chinese enterprises from an academic perspective. He pointed out that enterprises should not view ESG merely as a constraint but should see it as the starting point for business model innovation. Huang specifically emphasized that the practice of ESG should not only ensure the right things are done but also be adept at telling corporate stories, achieving positive social feedback through transparent, highlighted information disclosure, and called for policy micro-innovations to support corporate green transformations.
Li Jing, Partner and Head of ESG Sustainability at EY Greater China, shared insights on how AI can empower ESG development. She introduced the 「ESG Smart Q&A」 tool launched by EY, which utilizes artificial intelligence alongside professional knowledge to provide enterprises with industry insights, carbon emission calculations, and narrative design for ESG reports.
Xin Bin, Vice President of SGS China, focused on sustainable information disclosure and verification. He pointed out that the current level of ESG information disclosure among listed companies in China and the proportion of third-party verification remain rather low, facing challenges such as selective disclosure, insufficient quantification, and inadequate materiality assessments. Xin urged enterprises to adhere to principles of accuracy, balance, clarity, completeness, timeliness, and verifiability, utilizing standardized methods to achieve scientific disclosure and genuinely push ESG forward.
The insights shared by the three conference guests—from theory to practice, technology to governance—provided a systematic and multidimensional approach for the effective implementation of corporate ESG, infusing new thoughts and inspirations into the conference.
In Conclusion Joint Actions for Sustainable Development At the close of the discussion, CEO of Sina Finance, Deng Qingxu, praised CPIC not only for its significant achievements in ESG practice but also for transforming theory into practical experience through systematic construction, setting a benchmark for the industry. Deng emphasized that sustainable development is a common goal for humanity, and insurance protection helps society, families, and lives maintain resilience in the face of unpredictable risks, embodying this value through CPIC’s efforts.
The visiting and exchange activity, from immersive experiences to thought-provoking interactions, achieved a profound exploration from perception to understanding, allowing CPIC's sustainable development concepts and practices to be fully recognized once again. In the future, CPIC will continue to deepen collaborative efforts with governments, universities, and professional institutions, unleashing green forces through continuous innovation to jointly push the tide of sustainable development forward!