Ping An awarded "A- " in CDP rating for 3rd consecutive year for environmental achievements on climate change

Hong Kong Stock Exchange (Web Disclosure) via PUBT

(Hong Kong, Shanghai, February 13, 2023) Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. ("Ping An" or the "Group", HKEx:2318; SSE:601318) announced that the Group was rated A- in the climate change category by CDP for its transparency and execution in addressing climate change. CDP, an internationally renowned non-profit organization, scored the report with data submitted by nearly 15,000 companies in 2022.

Ping An has been disclosing climate change information to CDP since 2019 and has received an A- each year from 2020 to 2022. Ping An's score places it well above the average of C for global companies that disclosed to the CDP, and the average of B- for financial services companies. Ping An also received the highest ratings in disclosures on Scope 1 & 2 emissions, risk management processes, governance, and emissions reduction initiatives.

Ping An values green and low carbon development as part of its corporate responsibility to support China in its effort to reach peak emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. In 2021, Ping An announced its green finance development goals and plan to achieve operational carbon neutrality by 2030 for the first time. To achieve these goals, Ping An upgraded its Green Finance Committee to the Sustainable Development Committee in December 2022 to build a strong organizational structure and coordinate the promotion of core issues such as green finance, green operations and rural revitalization.

Ping An set a target of green investment and credit of RMB400 billion[1] (USD 58.96 billion), and total green insurance premiums of RMB250 billion (USD 36.85 billion) by 2025. As of the end of September 2022, Ping An's green investment and financing scale was approximately RMB319.8 billion (USD 47.14 billion), and the scale of green banking business was approximately RMB184.2 billion (USD 27.15 billion). In the first three quarters of 2022, the premium income of environmentally sustainable insurance products was approximately RMB110.5 billion (USD 16.28 billion).

Ping An has also adopted a carbon neutral strategy in line with international best practices, which prioritizes internal emission reduction through energy saving in office buildings and data centers, and further reductions through external efforts, including purchasing renewable power. In 2022, it began trial operation of Ping An Guanlan Data Center No. 3 in Shenzhen. It is China's first ever financial data center with a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) lower than 1.25, which is expected to save about 10.5 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 6,406 tons per year[2].

Ping An has received regional recognition for integrating environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) standards into its corporate management. In 2022, Ping An was rated A in the Morgan Stanley Capital Investment (MSCI) 2022 ESG Ratings, ranking first in the multi-line insurance and brokerage industry in Asia Pacific. In addition, Ping An was rated as "Low ESG Risk" by Sustainalytics, best score among Mainland China's insurance companies. In 2019, the Group was the first Chinese asset owner to sign the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and to join Climate Action 100+. It was also the first financial institution in mainland China to issue a Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) report.

The CDP, formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project, promotes building a sustainable economy by supporting investors, companies, cities, states and regions to measure their environmental impact. CDP's annual environmental disclosure and scoring system are widely recognized as the golden recognized for corporate transparency in environmental disclosure. Every year, CDP scores companies from A (the highest) to D- (the lowest), with an F given to requested companies that fail to disclose information through CDP.

[1] Calculated at the exchange rate prevailing on the day of distribution, (RMB's spot exchange rate again USD at around 6.78)

[2] Calculation based on General Rules for Calculation of the Comprehensive Energy Consumption (GB/T2589-2020)

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Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd. published this content on 13 February 2023 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 13 February 2023 09:22:27 UTC.