With an increasing global trend of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Reporting has become a common practice for businesses. ESG Report is also named as CSR or Sustainability Report. In Hong Kong, 85% of Hang Seng Index companies are reporting ESG issues in some form while 45% of them have a stand-alone report. Internationally, 95% of Global 250 companies are reporting their ESG performances.

It can be expected that more companies will issue ESG Report in the coming years with Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) requirement on ESG disclosure. On Dec 2015, HKEx upgraded the level of obligation of ESG report publication from “voluntary” to “comply or explain”. It is effective for the financial year on or after 1 January 2016. This means that the listed companies in Hong Kong are required to issue ESG Report in order to fulfill HKEx requirements. Otherwise, they are required to submit explanation for not issuing ESG Report to HKEx.