On June 20, 2025, the First ESG Sustainability Forum for the Building Materials Industry was successfully held at the Beijing New Century Hotel. Hosted by the China Building Materials Federation (CBMF), the forum was themed “Green Transformation for a Sustainable Future”, aiming to explore practical ESG pathways in the building materials industry, promote the sector’s green and low-carbon transformation, and contribute to the industry vision of “Superior Products and Advanced Industry, for the Benefit of Mankind.”

Zhang Dongzhuang, Vice President of CBMF, attended the forum and delivered opening remarks. Other attendees included Zhang Jie, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese Mechanical, Metallurgical, and Building Materials Workers’ Union; Wu Qingtao, Special Vice President of CBMF, Secretary-General of the Green and Low-Carbon Building Materials Branch, and General Manager of Guojian Lianxin Certification Center; and Zeng Lingrong, Special Vice President of CBMF and President of the China Building Materials Industry Planning and Research Institute.

Over 200 participants joined the forum, including ESG heads of listed and key enterprises, ESG scholars and experts, and members of the media.

In his remarks, Zhang Dongzhuang conveyed sincere thanks, on behalf of CBMF and President Yan Xiaofeng, to all leaders and experts who have long supported ESG development in the building materials sector. He emphasized that ESG is now an integral part of China’s national development strategy, and CBMF regards ESG advancement as a key pillar in promoting green, low-carbon, safe, and high-quality industry development.

Zhang noted that ESG development in the sector is gaining momentum, with CBMF actively guiding the process, listed companies taking the lead, and growing attention from private and non-listed enterprises. He stressed that ESG is a systematic and long-term undertaking, no longer a “bonus,” but a “core requirement” for sustainable success. Enterprises should raise their awareness, fully recognize the strategic importance of ESG, align with evolving standards, and work together to shape a new landscape for ESG development in the industry.

The forum featured the official launch of the Building Materials Industry ESG Public Service Platform—the first industry-level ESG platform established with guidance from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) and support from a national special fund.

CBMF also released the flagship report titled “Advancing ESG in the Building Materials Industry for a Sustainable Future”, which reviewed achievements in ESG system development and outlined priority actions in areas such as industry research, standard setting, platform building, corporate information disclosure, and performance evaluation.

Additionally, the forum announced the 2024 list of 15 “A+”-rated enterprises based on the evaluation standard “Guidelines for ESG of Enterprises in the Building Materials Industry – Part 2: Performance Evaluation.”
It also unveiled 20 exemplary ESG practice cases across environmental, social, governance, and climate change domains.

Renowned experts from institutions including the China Securities Research Institute, Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), Bloomberg, Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), China ESG Research Institute of Capital University of Economics and Business, Shenzhen Securities Information Co., Ltd., and MioTech delivered keynote presentations on topics such as green finance, global climate disclosures, ESG rating methodologies, and sustainable investment.

Leading industry players—Beijing Jinyu Group, Conch Cement, Taiwan Cement Corporation (TCC), and Beixin Building Materials—shared their best practices in areas such as social responsibility innovation, dual-carbon strategy implementation, climate risk management, and holistic sustainable development.

This inaugural forum successfully established the first high-level ESG exchange platform dedicated to the building materials industry. CBMF will use the momentum of this event to refine its ESG initiatives, accelerate the construction of a robust ESG ecosystem, and guide the industry toward deeper and more effective ESG integration—collectively charting a new course for green, low-carbon, safe, and high-quality development in the building materials sector.

Editor: Zhang Hanwen

Reviewer: Shen Yulu, Li Yuemei