China Development Bank

No leading practices were identified for the financial institution in the governance and strategy measurement area.

China Development Bank discloses that it has issued a total of USD 14.1 billion in green financial bonds and has outstanding green loans exceeding USD 320.4 billion. It also specifies what these solutions are and discloses that its climate solutions have received the Climate Bonds Certified stamp of approval by the Climate Bonds Initiative.

China Development Bank discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for two employee categories and for its total direct operations workforce.

In terms of its approach to senior leadership accountability, China Development Bank has an opportunity to link the remuneration of its executive and management teams to sustainability performance criteria. No evidence was found that the financial institution is committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment. Women are underrepresented on the board of directors where only two out of 12 board members are women. In addition, it has an opportunity to reach at least 40% female representation in senior leadership positions and disclose how it addresses any gender pay gaps. The financial institution has an opportunity to describe its engagement approach on sustainability themes and impact topics with clients and investees.

There is no evidence that China Development Bank discloses a target to reach net-zero financed emissions by 2050. It has an opportunity to disclose the key sectors and companies it has identified as priorities to engage with on climate change, specifically on the alignment with the Paris Agreement. It also has an opportunity to disclose time-bound targets explicitly for its climate solutions and track progress against them. No evidence was found regarding the China Development Bank’s approach to fossil fuels that spans across the fossil fuel value chain, such as the amount or share of finance it directs towards fuels, or its stance on financing companies with new fossil fuel projects. Regarding nature and biodiversity, the development financial institution could commit to minimising its negative impacts or financing regenerative solutions.

There is no evidence that China Development Bank has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights laid out in the UN Guiding Principles and the ILO declaration on fundamental rights at work. It has an opportunity to describe a comprehensive process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts across all its activities, especially its financing activities. Furthermore, the financial institution has an opportunity to disclose the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by age group. To provide transparency on financial inclusivity, China Development Bank has an opportunity to disclose the amount of finance directed towards, for example, women-owned businesses, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or low-income developing countries.