The OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises (“SOE Guidelines”) emphasise that the corporate governance framework should enable state ownership entities and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to make decisions and manage their risks in a manner that supports the sustainability and resilience of SOEs, ensuring they create long-term value. The SOE Guidelines further specify that the state should set concrete and ambitious sustainability-related expectations for SOEs, which should include the roles and responsibilities of the board, disclosure and transparency requirements, and expectations concerning responsible business conduct.
This report explores how SOEs and their state owners in ten Asian jurisdictions (People’s Republic of China (hereafter ‘China’), India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam) are integrating sustainability considerations into governance and operations. It covers: the role of the state owner; the roles and responsibilities of SOE boards; sustainability reporting and disclosure; and responsible business conduct and stakeholder engagement. The analysis in the report has been enhanced by input from policymakers in the reviewed countries.
This report was developed by the Capital Markets and Financial Institutions Division of the OECD Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs. It was prepared by Suzannah Hewson and Francesca Zampa, under the supervision of Chung-a Park, Programme Manager; Sara Sultan, Head of the State-Owned Enterprise Unit; and Serdar Çelik, Head of Division. Adriana De La Cruz, Caio de Oliveira, Thomas Dannequin and Greta Gabbarini from the same division, and Tihana Bule, Marie Bouchard, Benjamin Michel, Daniel Torán and Mónica Garay from the OECD Centre for Responsible Business Conduct, provided input. Antonio Gomes and Liv Gudmundson from the same directorate, as well as representatives of the reviewed jurisdictions and delegates to the OECD Working Party on State Ownership and Privatisation Practices, also provided contributions.