Environmental, social and governance (ESG) refer to three dimensions of a framework that helps stakeholders understand how an organization manages risks and opportunities created by changing conditions, which gains increasing attention.

The Chinese expert working group for ESG Coordinating Committee of ISO (ISO/ESG CC) has been recently approved to be established, whose secretariat will be held by CNIS.

The main responsibility of the working group is to gather ESG experts, collect their opinions of research on ESG standards, carry out research, and organize international exchanges in related fields such as environmental management, climate change, energy conservation, social responsibility, organizational governance, as well as green and sustainable finance. The working group will contribute Chinese wisdom to ESG international standardization work.

Set up in September 2022, ISO/ESG CC aims at coordinating ISO's internal and external ESG activities and promoting the implementation of ESG strategy, so as to reduce the deviation of international market disorder and avoid the "greenwashing" phenomenon. ISO/ESG CC is composed of more than 50 representatives from relevant ISO technical committees, including 1 Chinese expert from the Branch of Resource and Environment, CNIS.

CNIS has undertaken mirror committees of over 10 ISO technical committees that are directly related to ESG, such as ISO/TC 207, ISO/TC 301 and ISO/TC 322. With a great deal of research on ESG standardization, CNIS has contributed to approximately 20 ISO international standards on ESG, covering carbon emission management, new and renewable energy, etc.

More efforts will be put into the communication and cooperation of domestic technical experts, as well as the comprehensive participation of Chinese experts and organizations in ESG international standardization activities, sharing Chinese experience with oversea partners in this field.