On 4 November 2024, the Outstanding Award of ESG 2024 Ceremony organised by Hong Kong Commercial Daily, PR Asia and THINK ESG was held at the Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel. Yuexiu Property was awarded the Outstanding Award of ESG 2024 for its outstanding performance in carbon reduction, carbon neutrality and sustainable development, and was one of the 18 winners of the award, as well as receiving a certificate of support for carbon neutrality activities from the organiser.

（Left：Professor Wong Kam-fai, Member of the Legislative Council of the HKSAR and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong）
（Right：Mr. Jiang Yongjin, Assistant President of Yuexiu Property）

The Outstanding Award of ESG is an international ESG-rated award that uses corporate data based on the D&B ESG Registered™, together with multiple leading ESG standards as scoring references, the selection criteria cover environmental, social, governance, and sustainable development planning. More than ten companies were recognised for their outstanding achievements in the field of ESG. They have demonstrated exceptional commitment and strength by disclosing full and transparent ESG information under the rigorous and professional D&B scoring system as well as the careful selection by the judging panel.

（‘The Outstanding Award of ESG’ trophy and ’Carbon Neutral Activity Certificate’）

In April 2024, Yuexiu Property first disclosed the company's carbon reduction targets: commit to achieve net-zero emissions in the value chain by 2060 and to peak carbon by 2030. Outstanding Award of ESG 2024 Ceremony endeavoured to explore and implement measures to reduce the carbon footprint of its activities. Carbon Reduction and Carbon Offsetting was implemented at the ceremony, and carbon credits from international standards such as the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism (UNCDM) will be used to offset the carbon emissions generated by the ceremony in advance, making it ‘Carbon Neutral’. Yuexiu Property attended the award ceremony and was presented with a certificate of support for the ‘Carbon Neutral’ campaign, demonstrating the company's support for environmentally and socially sustainable activities.

Green finance will play an important role in the smooth realisation of the national ‘30|60’ target. As an international financial centre, Hong Kong has been actively following the Central Government's policy and responding to the United Nations' call to contribute to the overall direction of sustainable ESG development and to discuss the dual-carbon target. To demonstrate Hong Kong's commitment, the HKSAR Government has announced that Hong Kong will strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. According to Mr Joseph H. L. Chan, JP, Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, who was the Guest of Honour at the Award Ceremony, as of June this year, there were over 230 SFC-approved ESG funds in Hong Kong, with assets under management of more than $1.3 trillion, representing a year-on-year growth of 19% in the number of funds and 8% in the size of assets under management, and a total of more than US$50 billion of green and sustainable debt to be issued in Hong Kong in 2023, of which Hong Kong is the largest market in the Asian region in terms of the total amount of green and sustainable bonds arranged for issuance, accounting for 37% of the total amount.

（Group photo of award ceremony guests）

With global climate change becoming an increasingly serious issue, Yuexiu Property understands the importance of the real estate construction industry's impact on the environment. Therefore, Yuexiu Property is committed to actively utilising sustainable financing tools to promote carbon reduction and provide financial support for low-carbon building projects, energy efficiency upgrades and renewable energy utilisation, etc. In 2024, Yuexiu Property set up a sustainable financing framework for the first time and on 5 July 2024, successfully issued its first green bond. Looking ahead, Yuexiu Property will increase the use of sustainable financing and continue to explore and practice more innovative carbon emission reduction measures, not only to achieve green development of its business, but also to contribute positively to the promotion of low-carbon transformation of the entire property industry.