On August 11, 2023, Qunxian Group hosted the "Chasing the Wind Day by Day, Turning Stones into Gold" China Ferroalloy Industry ESG Transformation and Development Forum held in Shanghai.

The ESG forum invited more than 200 industry stakeholders and guests to participate, and received strong support from many media and institutions such as Yicai, Jiemian News, Sina Finance, China Business Daily, My Steel Network, Ferroalloy Online, China Ferroalloy Industry Association, Poker Finance and many other media and institutions. The forum was broadcast live online throughout the forum.

Opening speech

Shi Wanli, Secretary General of China Ferroalloy Industry Association

Shi Wanli, Secretary General of China Ferroalloy Industry Association, presided over the forum and delivered a speech. Although ESG is an imported product, from a global perspective, China has become a new engine for global ESG development. Secretary-General Shi explained that the purpose of this forum is to help China's mineral resources and mineral processing enterprises understand, understand and gain insight into ESG development trends, and jointly promote the ESG transformation of the industry.

Zhu Hong, Secretary General of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Jiusan Society

Secretary-General Zhu Hong spoke highly of the forum's role in promoting the sustainable and high-quality development of the ferroalloy industry and actively fulfilling its social responsibilities. As a growing private enterprise, Qunxian Group, under the leadership and support of the China Ferroalloy Industry Association, held the industry ESG transformation and development forum, which reflects corporate social responsibility and responsibility, and reflects the determination of private enterprises and private entrepreneurs to respond to the call of the Party Central Committee and actively practice the new national development concept.

Topic: Green Development and Green Finance in the Context of "Dual Carbon"

Li Zhiqing, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Economics of Fudan University

Associate Professor Li Zhiqing, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Economics of Fudan University and Executive Director of the Institute of Green Finance of Fudan University, gave a keynote speech entitled "Green Development and Green Finance in the Context of Dual Carbon".

Professor Li believes that under the wave of global sustainable development, ESG is a passport for enterprises to walk in the international market. In the future, if companies do not pay attention to the development of ESG, they may not be too competitive in the domestic market. Professor Li introduced the development, value and application of ESG concepts, and discussed the role of green finance and transition finance in the future transformation and high-quality development of the national economy in a simple and simple manner. Professor Li proposed that the so-called green assets or gray assets are good assets as long as they can produce environmental improvement benefits, climate change benefits, and efficient resource utilization. In this way, the entire policy can be coordinated, encouraging green development and the transformation and development of non-green assets.

Topic: "Suggestions for Green and Low-carbon Development of the Ferroalloy Industry - Establishing ESG Concepts and Practicing Green Evaluation and Certification"

Xiao Bangguo, vice president of the Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute

Mr. Xiao Bangguo, vice president of the Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute and deputy secretary-general of the China Special Steel Enterprise Association, led everyone to make specific introductions and suggestions on the ESG work carried out by ferroalloy enterprises present, as well as green double certification, energy efficiency and other work from the perspective of ESG-related policies.

Dean Xiao believes that the ferroalloy industry still has a lot of work to do in terms of energy consumption and waste heat recovery, and will help the industry and enterprises improve their energy efficiency level through the creation of energy efficiency standards. Dean Xiao's introduction not only tells us the necessity and binding nature of ESG-related evaluation and certification for enterprises in the ferroalloy industry, but also calls on the industry to not only respond to regulatory requirements, but also practice ESG based on the endogenous development momentum of enterprises.

Topic: Sumitomo Corporation's experience and achievements in ESG practices

Liang Jingyuan, Director of the Metal Raw Materials Department of Sumitomo Corporation China Resources and Energy Division

Mr. Liang Jingyuan, General Manager of the Metal Raw Materials Department of Sumitomo Corporation China Resources and Energy Division, Sumitomo Corporation of Japan, shared the Sumitomo Group's experience and achievements in ESG practices.

Minister Liang explained Sumitomo Corporation's approach to ESG from six aspects: how to mitigate climate change, circular economy, respect for human rights, local socio-economic development, improvement and improvement of living standards, and quality education.

Minister Liang's sharing not only brought the entrepreneurs to the scene a further understanding of the key elements in "E" such as carbon emission control, but also showed the excellent experience of foreign advanced enterprises in "S" and "G".

Roundtable Dialogue: Opportunities and Challenges of ESG Transformation in the Ferroalloy Industry

The roundtable dialogue was hosted by Mr. Li Yue, General Manager of Qunxian Group, and invited experts from different fields such as academia, trade, production, and consulting in the industry to conduct in-depth exchanges and discussions on the practical significance of corporate ESG transformation.

Li Yue, General Manager of Qunxian Group, Roundtable Dialogue Guests

The invited guests were Dai Jing, Professor of the University of Nottingham Business School Ningbo, David Dannon, Head of Glencore's Global Manganese Business, Zhou Changwei, Representative of Glencore Group China, Deng Guohong, Chairman of Mengfa Ferroalloy Co., Ltd., Hu Mudan, ESG Disclosure and Management Consulting Partner of PwC China, and Lin Ye, Chairman of Qunxian Group.

Topic: Is ESG a multiple-choice question or a compulsory question for Chinese companies, especially Chinese ferroalloy companies?

Dai Jing, professor of the Business School of the University of Nottingham Ningbo

Professor Dai Jing believes that ESG is not only a compulsory question, but also a rush question. ESG is the general trend, not only policy-oriented, but also the driving force for industry restructuring and enterprise capacity development. If the company's understanding of ESG is a multiple-choice question or makes relatively small changes to comply with the mandatory requirements of the policy, it may be difficult to obtain its real dividends or truly help the enterprise transform and achieve win-win capabilities. Professor Dai Jing suggested that enterprises, including the ferroalloy industry, think about it as a quick answer question, and the "first mover advantage" contained in it is actually a very important strategic choice.

Topic: How should companies view the changes brought by ESG, whether it is an opportunity or a challenge? Is it external pressure, or is it an internal driving force?

Hu Mudan, ESG Disclosure and Management Consulting Partner, PwC China

Ms. Hu Mudan believes that for companies at different stages and with different health conditions, the meaning of ESG is different. From the initial thinking about how to meet customer needs, legal compliance, to becoming a competitive advantage, or even a pass to enter the international market, it is a gradual process of change.

Mr. David Dannon believes that the short term will definitely put pressure on the enterprise, and the enterprise will face higher costs. But in the long run, different companies will find their own development opportunities in them, which may become a driving force.

Topic: As a ferroalloy company, if there is no ESG evaluation in the future, can the upstream company not even sell the mine to me?

David Dannon, Global Head of Manganese Business at Glencore

David Dannon believes that Glencore is paying more attention to the ESG situation of upstream ore mining companies at this stage. However, in recent years, there has been a big trend in the West that all companies are very rigorous and more common in the "know your customer" side, so in the long run, such a situation cannot be ruled out.

Topic: Ferroalloy production capacity is so scattered, the threshold is not very high at this stage, the profitability level may be relatively low compared with various industries, and it is often labeled as "two highs and one surplus" by various banks and financial institutions, what substantial impact will ESG have on the ferroalloy industry?

Deng Guohong, chairman of Mengfa Ferroalloy Co., Ltd

Mr. Deng Guohong believes that most of China's ferroalloy companies are developed from small enterprises, how to adapt to the requirements of digital and intelligent modern enterprise management, adapt to the self-development awareness of post-80s, post-90s and post-00 employees, and efficiently govern enterprises. Enterprises should use ESG as a yardstick for their future development. Never looked at the present, self-measurement.

Lin Ye, chairman of Qunxian Group

Mr. Lin Ye believes that Southern Ferroalloy Enterprises have reached the brink of life and death. Perhaps ESG has given us a breakthrough direction, companies can change the structure of our energy use, improve corporate governance, reduce costs, and make some investments in social value.

More and more companies have realized the great value of ESG, but for most companies, especially the ferroalloy industry, the theme of today's conference, it is still a challenging journey of exploration to transform ESG from concept to practice. How to deeply understand ESG? How to deeply integrate ESG into the daily operations and strategies of enterprises is a question worth thinking about and exploring.

Roundtable Dialogue with the Chamberlain

We hope to lead enterprises in the ferroalloy industry to think and discuss the significance of ESG together, no matter what industry cycle and stage they are in, they can take the initiative to think and embrace the future, explore and move forward on the road of sustainable development, and contribute to the realization of high-quality economic and social development in China.