Connecting International investors with China's Agri-food businesses through Sustainability: ChinaAMC's ESG trip

ChinaAMC's ESG team extended its analytical scope to concrete, on-the-ground practices across China's agri-food value chain, and tell the story to the rest of the world.

BEIJING, June 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- In recent years, sustainability issues spanning biodiversity, deforestation-free supply chains, and agricultural greenhouse gas emissions have become material topics of corporate operations. This followed the gradual implementation of global regulatory frameworks—such as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), alongside China's "Dual Carbon" targets, tightening ESG disclosure mandates, and the rollout of grand biodiversity strategy.

As a leading asset manager in China, China Asset Management Co. (ChinaAMC) has long prioritized monitoring and evaluating corporate practices regarding climate change, natural capital, biodiversity, and supply chain management. Following engagements with international institutional investors during last year's global sustainability summits in Brazil—where biodiversity and deforestation-free supply chains topped the agenda—ChinaAMC's ESG research team extended its analytical scope to concrete, on-the-ground practices across the nation's agricultural and food value chain. The goal is to help global investors to better understand Chinese agri-food businesses' sustainable transition practices. This active stewardship approach also aims to help companies to set science-based targets, elevating data disclosure standards, ensuring supply chain traceability, and strengthening overall sustainability capacity.

Against this backdrop, ChinaAMC last week joined a delegation of leading Chinese and international asset managers, as well as non-governmental organizations to conduct field trips and corporate engagements centered on the sustainable transformation of China's agri-food business, deforestation-free supply chains, and methane emissions.

Shanghai: overcome the vital "bankability" problem

The field delegation commenced its itinerary at the School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, participating in an exclusive ESG Investor Roundtable. The forum served as a high-level platform where leading institutions and enterprises shared frontier sustainability practices within the agricultural sector. Notably, representatives from the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) presented strategic blueprints detailing how global capital markets can effectively finance and support methane emission reduction across the agri-food supply chain.

The roundtable discussions underscored that the agri-food system remains a substantial contributor to global methane emissions. While in some key segments—such as livestock farming, livestock manure management, and feed optimization—emission-reduction technologies have been deployed, significant commercial hurdles remain. From an investment standpoint, scaling agricultural methane reduction requires overcoming the vital threshold of "bankability." Currently, many agricultural abatement projects are structurally fragmented, limited in individual scale, and heavily reliant on more robust data monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) mechanisms to validate environmental performance. The consensus among delegates was clear: only when the environmental benefits of these projects are precisely quantified, verified, and rendered transparent to the market can green financial instruments—such as green loans and green bonds—be deployed at scale.

Northwestern China: Super factory, Green transformation, Oasis in the Sea of Death

After Shanghai, the delegation visited Mengniu Dairy's production base in Northwestern China. On Day 1 of the leg, we visited Mengniu's super factory in Ningxia. As the world's largest single liquid milk production base, the factory has been recognized as global dairy industry's first "Lighthouse Factory" by the World Economic Forum. Full automation and digitalization reduced the overall energy consumption by 43%(according to Mengniu dated Dec 2024), making the factory a prime model for the digital intelligence and green practices in dairy industry.

The delegation held an in-depth dialogue with Mengniu and its suppliers. Following the roadshows by executives of these companies, ChinaAMC's ESG research head Shirly Xu moderated a Q&A session, featuring a lively exchange of views on deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. Delegates said the field trip offered them a chance to witness the top Chinese dairy firm's sustainable practices in person and engage with the executives.

On Day 2 of the leg, the delegation reached the outskirt of the Ulan Buh desert. Looking out across the vast desert, interlocking stretches of saxaul trees and purple alfalfa grew in harmony, transforming the once-boundless sea of sand into a vibrant green wilderness. It is hard to imagine that this thriving ecological pasture was a barren "Sea of Death" devoid of any life just 17 years ago. A major supplier of Mengniu invested heavily over the years to transform the vast swath of desert into an "organic" farm, an oasis that is isolated and free of fertilizers.

A tour of Mengniu's modern ranch featured their livestock management and automated milking processes. The cows there were well-cared for, fed with organic feed in well-ventilated, temperature-controlled facilities. The delegation also toured an organic farm, where there was the sharp contrast between the vibrant green pasture and the adjacent ochre sands.

"We are glad to be part of the fact-finding trip and connect international investors with Chinese industries. What we witnessed was not only Chinese agri-food businesses' ESG achievements, but also a replicable methodology that converts sustainability into business competitiveness," said Shirly Xu.