Small and medium-sized enterprises at the end of the industry chain report difficulties in obtaining loans for equipment upgrading to reduce carbon emissions, and also face a lack of standards when submitting ESG data. Recently, many such enterprises

As ESG shifts from individual corporate behavior to whole-chain collaboration, how to enable the "junior" members on the supply chain to keep up with the transformation has become the focus of industry attention. From the standard output of leading c

ESG Transformation Challenges for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Today, ESG in the supply chain is not only a passport for enterprises to enter high-end markets, but also the only way to respond to the dual carbon strategy. However, in the process of green transformation, a large number of small and medium-sized e

The double lag of cognition and ability makes it difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises to start their ESG transformation. At the recently held 3rd ESG China Innovation Annual Conference (2025) and the First ESG International Expo, Zhou Guo

Besides cognitive lag, the lack of standards has also become an obstacle on the road to transformation. Zhang Zhengwei, Special Advisor to the Chairman of the International Sustainable Standards Board (ISSB) and Director of its Beijing Office, said t

Guo Zhaohao said that establishing a supply chain ESG ecosystem faces some difficulties, such as data islands and information asymmetry, which increase communication costs for companies on the chain and make supply chain risk management and collabora

Due to the dual constraints of funding and technology, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) find it difficult to make progress in their ESG transformation. Some SME suppliers are facing great pressure to survive with limited resources. The inves

In addition, the problem of "internal and external mismatch" has led to the situation where corporate and supply chain ESG become two separate things. Industry observations have found that the crux of the problem lies in some companies only treating

Core enterprises drive upstream and downstream to break through bottlenecks

Faced with the transformation difficulties of small, medium and micro-enterprises, more and more leading companies in the industry chain are beginning to play the role of leaders. Through standard co-construction, technology sharing, and ecological c

A unified standard is the foundation for the implementation of ESG in the supply chain. Liu Mingzhong, the first vice president of the China Enterprise Reform and Development Research Association, believes that we should build an innovative path for

Wu Xiao, Vice President of Trina Solar Co., Ltd. and Head of Risk Control and ESG, introduced that the company has established an ESG management system for suppliers, covering management objectives, implementation plans, evaluation and assessment, et

At the same time, the backbone enterprises should also actively participate in setting industry standards to fill the gaps in their fields. Chen Dexin, Chairman of China Minmetals Corporation, stated that the company will actively build an internatio

Standards cannot be achieved without technological support. Chain-leading enterprises should open their green technologies and management expertise to suppliers. As a national-level green factory, Pinggao Electric has established a green technology s

The practice of State Grid International has a more international perspective. The Meilishan 800 KV Ultra High Voltage Direct Current Transmission Project built in Brazil by the company has transmitted over 200 billion kWh of clean energy from 2017 t

Chain-leading enterprises can also build a transformation circle for small and medium-sized enterprises by integrating resources. Liu Yanhong, a board director of Dongfeng Automobile Group, said that the company led the establishment of the Hubei Pro

Du Le, the deputy general manager of China Energy Saving and Environmental Protection Group Co., Ltd., said that China Energy Saving has set up an air pollution prevention fund in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and used the sovereign loans of internat

Make ESG Excellent Performance Real

The cooperation among enterprises is not enough. We also need financial tools and policy guidance to work together to make the ESG transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises profitable and accessible to financing, so as to truly realize val

Peng Huagang, president of the China Enterprise Reform and Development Research Association, suggested that we should give full play to the advantages of green and low-carbon fields, build cross-department and cross-agency collaboration mechanisms, a

An increasing number of financial institutions are incorporating ESG factors into credit decisions to offer green premiums to companies with excellent ESG performance. Liu Wei, deputy director of the Shanghai Stock Exchange Research Institute, indica

It is worth mentioning that capital markets provide a 'value export' for supply chain ESG. The Shanghai Stock Exchange has launched a 'Special Action Plan to Promote the Improvement of ESG Ratings of Companies Listed in Shanghai', which focuses on ke

Chairman Shen Xiaoping of Tongding Group expressed that the company will incorporate ESG indicators into executive evaluations and cultivate six national-level specialized and innovative small-and-medium enterprises with supply chain access standards

From the standard output of the main chain enterprises to the precise drizzling of financial resources, supply chain ESG is effectively solving the practical bottlenecks of small, medium and micro-enterprises and promoting the transformation from sin