Zhitong Finance App News. Recently, Emperor Capital (00717) released the “2022/2023 Environmental, Social and Governance Report”, which explains the Group's environmental, social and governance values and measures for the financial year ended September 30, 2023.

Emperor Capital is mainly engaged in providing financial services, including: commercial and personal loans and margin and initial public offering financing; brokerage services, wealth management and asset management; providing placement and underwriting services for listed issuers; and corporate finance advisory services.

According to the ESG report, in order to strengthen the board's environmental, social and governance management methods and strategies, and further enhance environmental, social and governance governance governance, the board of directors of Emperor Capital adopted environmental, social and governance policies and granted the Environmental, Social and Governance Committee (composed of representatives of operations and support departments) and the Company Executive Committee the powers and powers to handle all matters relating to the environment, society and governance. At the same time, the Group strives to continuously interact with key stakeholder groups, maintain close ties with their stakeholders, gather their feedback through various communication channels, understand and respond to their concerns, so as to improve the Group's operations and practices.

Electricity consumption is the most important source of carbon emissions in Emperor Capital's Hong Kong offices and operations. In the current year, the Group collected quantitative data at its Hong Kong office (total construction area of 1,732 square meters) to demonstrate the Group's sustainable performance. Total greenhouse gas emissions this year (scope 1, 2 and 3) decreased slightly by about 2.0% compared to 2021/2022.

Office paper is the main non-hazardous waste in the Group's operations. To encourage customers to change their bills from printed to electronic versions, customers will be required to pay an additional fee if they choose to receive printed invoices. As of September 30, 2023, 90% of customers used electronic billing. In addition, the group deposits surplus funds in selected banks to support environmentally friendly projects and businesses through its green deposit scheme, and promote a low-carbon, climate-resilient and sustainable economic transformation.

At the social level, as of September 30, 2023, Emperor Capital jointly employed a total of 139 (2022:131) employees, of which 55% were men and 45% were women, working in offices and branches in Hong Kong, China, and liaison offices in mainland China. The Group's workforce is of all ages and genders. At the same time, the Group has always adhered to the principle of gender equality, particularly supporting the participation of women in the board of directors, management and operations. The Group also provides comprehensive training, encourages and funds employees at all levels to further education or participate in training, and has established an external training funding policy. In this year, the total number of training hours for the Group's employees was 638 hours; the average number of training hours per employee reached 4.6 hours.

In terms of supply chain management, Emperor Capital maintains close cooperation with a number of service providers providing trading platform systems and financial information solutions in Hong Kong and mainland China. The selection of suppliers is based on criteria such as price, stability of the trading platform, and speed of response, strength and experience of the customer service team. If potential suppliers can fulfill environmental requirements, priority will be given. To ensure that suppliers are responsible companies, the group also visits its suppliers' workplaces from time to time to promote proper labor standards.

In addition, Emperor Capital actively promotes various community activities covering the welfare of the elderly, disadvantaged groups and environmental protection initiatives. These activities complement the Group's commitment to sustainable development, and the Group's management team also plays an important role in mobilizing participation in these activities. The group was also awarded the “Business Show Care” logo for 15 years or more by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, in recognition of its enduring commitment to corporate social responsibility.

(Link ESG researcher Xie Yuxia)