On 11 December 2025, Ms. Mia Zheng, WeCarbon's China Partner and Distinguished ESG Expert at the AIFC Enterprise Global Development Research Institute of the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU, was invited to deliver the 44th online lecture of the "Lutalk · Shanghai Financial Lecture Hall", jointly hosted by the Shanghai Financial Association, the Lujiazui Financial City Development Bureau, the Lujiazui Financial City Council and the China Financial Information Center. Speaking on "Responding to the EU's Green Barriers: ESG Compliance Management and Value Creation for Financial Institutions", she discussed new trends in EU ESG compliance and analysed how the EU's ESG regulatory framework has evolved and what it means in practice. The lecture was moderated by Shuai Shi, Executive Deputy Secretary-General of the Shanghai Financial Association, and drew more than 1,100 viewers on the WeChat Channels of the Shanghai Financial Association, Lujiazui Financial City and Lujiazui Dialogue.
Photo: Ms. Mia Zheng and Mr. Shuai Shi during the online lecture
In her talk, Ms. Zheng explained systematically how EU ESG regulation has moved from "advocating principles" to a new stage of "legal mandates", and examined the four core regulations that form the pillars of this regulatory network: the EU Taxonomy sets clear "green" criteria for economic activities; the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive introduces the principle of "double materiality" and deepens disclosure requirements; the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation curbs "greenwashing" in the financial sector; and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive extends responsibility from disclosure to actual conduct. Given this trend, she said, financial institutions must move from being passive providers of funds to proactive advisers on companies' green transition. Their core task is to systematically turn ESG factors from a "nice-to-have" into a "must-have" in investment decisions.
She stressed that the way forward for Chinese companies is to combine systematic compliance with value creation. As China-EU green finance cooperation deepens, companies that prepare early will gain more market opportunities. With systematic compliance strategies and innovative financial instruments, Chinese companies are fully capable of turning the EU's ESG requirements into an opportunity to strengthen their competitiveness.
Going forward, WeCarbon will continue its in-depth work, drawing on its forward-looking insight into international rules and its local implementation capabilities to help more Chinese companies meet ESG regulatory requirements systematically as they expand overseas, and to make steady, lasting progress in the global green transition.