Mandatory ESG Disclosure in China–A Structured Review and Integrative Framework

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Provides a synthesized evidence base on the effects of mandatory ESG disclosure in China, useful for comparative disclosure research.

🏢実務担当者:Highlights that benefits of disclosure depend on enforcement and firm resources; useful for managing compliance and strategy.

🏛政策担当者:Offers a framework linking mandate design to outcomes, with cautionary notes on strategic disclosure and rating divergence.

China's stock exchanges moved from a largely voluntary or comply-or-explain model toward mandatory sustainability reporting in 2022, placing China within a broader global shift toward harder-law ESG disclosure. To assess what that transition is likely to achieve, this paper draws on a structured set of 17 coded studies and synthesises the core evidence on China's mandatory or semi-mandatory ESG disclosure regime. The review indicates three recurrent benefits: lower default risk and, conditionally, reduced crash risk; improved earnings quality; and stronger innovation-related investment or performance. At the same time, the literature does not support a simple "more disclosure, better outcomes" claim. Effects vary with enforcement credibility, governance quality, firm resources, ownership structure, and the verifiability of reported data. Persistent rating divergence, strategic disclosure, and short-run compliance costs show that disclosure mandates are necessary but not self-executing. Building on these findings, the paper synthesises the evidence through a four-link framework connecting mandate design, information quality, stakeholder response, and corporate outcomes, and identifies unresolved issues concerning materiality, safe-harbour design, and technology-governance complementarity.

• crossref https://doi.org/10.54254/2754-1169/2026.lh33899first seen 2026-05-27 05:11:18