MBA Education Management Center, UCAS

On March 2, 2024, the final round of the 7th Global Universities Green Finance Research Competition organized by the International Institute of Green Finance(IIGF) of Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE) was successfully concluded. The "Green Expedition Team" consisting of master's students from SEM UCAS won the first prize for their work "Study on the Existence of Discrepancies and Influencing Factors in ESG Ratings". The work was completed under the joint guidance of Associate Professor Kun Guo.

"Green Expedition Team" was making the presentation

A total of 185 teams from universities at home and abroad participated in the competition, focusing on carbon emissions, new energy industry, transformation of heavily polluting enterprises and digital transformation. After several rounds of expert evaluation, seven teams stood out and presented their research ideas and results in the final round. One first prize, one second prize and two third prizes were awarded.

In recent years, more and more enterprises have incorporated ESG factors into their production, operation and investment decisions, and a number of ESG rating agencies have emerged to provide enterprises with scores and rankings on their environmental or social responsibility performance, but there are significant differences in the evaluation methods and results of these rating agencies. Based on the ESG ratings of China's A-share listed companies by multiple ESG rating agencies, the work of Green Expedition Team " Study on the Existence of Discrepancies and Influencing Factors in ESG Ratings " quantitatively measures the extent of ESG discrepancies among rating agencies and at the micro-listed company level, which not only verifies the existence of ESG discrepancies, but also further measures the degree of ESG discrepancies at the micro-listed company level, which is the most important factor in the development of A-share listed companies. It not only verifies the existence of ESG divergence, but also further explores the influencing factors of ESG rating divergence at the micro-firm level. The study finds that ESG divergence exists widely among listed companies and tends to enlarge year by year; ESG divergence is usually more likely to occur in the service industry than in the other industries; more ESG external controversial events and environmental information disclosure further aggravate ESG divergence; and an increase in the proportion of female board members, the proportion of board members with overseas education or working experience, the proportion of academic board members, and the proportion of middle-aged and young board members can significantly alleviate ESG divergence. The increase in the proportion of female board members with overseas education or working experience, the proportion of academic board members, and the proportion of young and middle-aged board members can significantly mitigate ESG divergence.

(By Haijuan Wang)