Recently, Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc. (Chinese MSCI"), an international authoritative index agency, announced the latest ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) rating results, and Haier Smart Home was upgraded to AA, the highest rating in the domestic industry. So far, Haier Smart Home's MSCI ESG rating has been upgraded for five consecutive years, from B in 2020 to BB in 2021, BBB in 2022, A in 2023, and then AA this year.
As the world's largest provider of ESG data, research and indexes, MSCI is recognized by global investment institutions, and its ESG ratings are also an important reference for domestic and foreign investors to formulate investment strategies and evaluate the sustainable development ability of enterprises. It is understood that the MSCI ESG rating is divided into seven ratings: CCC, B, BB, BBB, A, AA, and AAA. Haier Smart Home's ESG rating has been continuously upgraded to AA, indicating that its practices around green development, social responsibility and corporate governance have been widely recognized.
In terms of green development, Haier Smart Home creates a new green life experience for global users by reducing carbon emissions throughout the life cycle of products. Specifically, in the research and development process, Haier Smart Home continues to improve the energy efficiency of a full range of products, and at this year's IFA exhibition, it launched a series of products that are more energy-efficient than the European A-level energy efficiency standard, such as Haier Langjing X11 series washing machine that is 60% more energy-efficient than the European A-level energy efficiency standard; In terms of manufacturing, Haier Smart Home has 8 lighthouse factories, which is one of the enterprises with the largest number of "lighthouse factories" in China. In the recycling process, Haier Smart Home relies on the industry's first recycling interconnection factory to realize the reuse of resources.
In terms of social responsibility, Haier Smart Home relies on its global localization layout to go deep into the local area, take root in the local area, and give back to the local area. In China, Haier Smart Home has actively contributed to education and public welfare, and has assisted in the construction of more than 400 hope schools, making it the enterprise that has assisted the construction of the most hope primary schools in the Hope Project of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. Overseas, Haier Scholarship helps Pakistani students realize their dreams, helps Bangladesh Marathon, etc., and Haier Smart Home actively participates in local community welfare.
In terms of corporate governance, Haier Smart Home has always paid attention to standardized governance, laying a solid foundation for the stable and healthy development of the enterprise. Among them, in the construction of the board of directors, Haier Smart Home has formulated and strictly implemented the "Board Member Diversity Policy". In 2023, the board of directors of Haier Smart Home will have 9 directors, including 2 executive directors, 3 non-executive directors and 4 independent directors, accounting for 44.4% of the independent directors. There are 2 female directors, accounting for 22.2% of the directors. The members of the board of directors have rich knowledge and experience in the home appliance industry, Internet of Things, corporate governance, global markets, financial management, risk management and control, etc., which helps the board of directors to make the best decisions and promote the sustainable and healthy development of the company.
In recent years, the external environment has become more complex and challenging, and the industry competition has become increasingly fierce, and more and more Chinese companies have attached importance to ESG in order to better achieve high-quality and sustainable development. For example, with its in-depth exploration and practice in the field of ESG, Haier Smart Home has not only achieved steady growth under a high base of performance, but also provided a practical reference sample for other enterprises to practice ESG concepts.