Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic woes remained uncertain and volatile and negatively impacted the economic and social development. As a leading cross-regional integrated energy service provider in China, the Group followed the industry changes and market development and adopted a more stable and pragmatic operation strategy to fully implement the safe operation management, thus laying a solid foundation for our high-quality and sustainable development.

China Gas is committed to providing customers with safe and reliable gas, as well as high-quality services and mainly focuses on four aspects, namely natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas (“LPG”), integrated energy and value-added services. In February 2021, the Smart MicroGrid project, which was pioneered and promoted by China Gas and gained recognition of the State and policy makers, was initiated in response to the government’s goal of “promoting the use of gas in rural areas, and supporting the construction of safe and reliable gas storage tank stations and MicroGrid gas supply systems in rural areas” proposed in the “No. 1 Document” released by the government. In addition, with respect to road transportation, we are devoted to increasing the ratio of using natural gas in heavy trucks and promoting the oil-to-gas conversion. In addition, the investment and construction of LNG stations on national highways have been stepped up by construction and franchising, promoting the rapid development of LNG in domestic vehicles. The Group has also sped up the introduction of intelligent safety management equipment in gas stations. Through technologies such as the SCADA platform, the patrol inspection system, and the Geographic Information System, the Group has been monitoring business operations in real time, cautioning against risks and transforming and upgrading into an unattended digital security management to provide employees with a good and safe working environment.

With regards to safety and health, China Gas has been promoting the certification up to OHSAS 18001/ISO 45001, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. As of February 2023, 41 subsidiaries of the Group have been certified to these standards. China Gas plans to certify up to 44 subsidiaries to these standards in FY2022/23. In the future, the Group will have at least 40 subsidiaries to meet these standards every year and gradually promote the health and safety standards certification to all companies across the Group afterwards.

In the future, we will focus on developing new energy and related businesses and pushing forward our three major new businesses, namely Smart MicroGrid, Urban Heating, and value-added services, while promoting our energy technology innovation in a continuous way and striving on our digital transformation strategy.

To help achieve the “dual carbon” goals of “carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060” proposed in the “14th Five-Year Plan” and to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of its own business, China Gas is actively exploring various business scenarios related to energy conservation and carbon reduction. We propose to cooperate with local government investment platforms in key domestic regions to establish carbon management service centres to provide carbon asset management and integrated energy management services as well as digital and modular technical solutions such as carbon footprint calculation systems for key industries and corporate customers which require energy conservation and carbon reduction, and gradually plan and promote the services nationwide. In November 2021, the Group entered into strategic cooperation agreements with each of Yangtze Three Gorges Investment Management Co., Ltd., a subsidiary under China Three Gorges Corporation, Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange Corporation, and Dongfeng Motor Corporation, aiming to jointly create a cohesive low-carbon ecosystem. In addition, the Group, State Power Investment Corporation Carbon Asset Management Company Limited (國家電投集團碳資產管理有限公司) and LONGI Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd. are to utilise their respective advantages in technologies, resources, capital and management and commence cooperation in the areas of distributed photovoltaic, building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), rural revitalisation, energy storage and electric vehicle charging, green hydrogen and its applications and other new energy system solutions, in a bid to jointly explore opportunities in the mainland China market as well as facilitate growth in the local economy.

China Gas adheres to the principle of “People-oriented and Strive for Excellence”. As a public utility enterprise, the Group integrates “Caring for the Community” into our daily operations. During the pandemic, China Gas Charity Foundation Ltd. (“China Gas Charity Foundation”) has responded actively to the government’s call of “Fight the virus together, support Hong Kong together” by donating HK$1 million each to the Hong Kong Community Anti-Coronavirus Link and Agency for Volunteer Service to provide universal testing-related support. The donation was mainly used to help the elderly who are living alone or aged 65 or above to complete the testing successfully. China Gas Charity Foundation has responded actively to the government’s call of “Fight the virus together, support Hong Kong together” to provide support to those in need in local communities and help Hong Kong come out of the epidemic as early as possible.

As an employer, China Gas strives to implement the corporate culture with our employees and be a role model for the industry. The Group continues to build a diversified career development platform for employees and aims to provide employees with a harmonious and fulfilling working environment.

On 19 June 2021, the Group signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations Environment Programme (“UNEP”) and joined the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (“OGMP”), becoming the first OGMP member company in China. On 7 December 2021, the Group received the “Outstanding Award for Green and Sustainable Loan Issuer (Natural Gas Industry)” at the “Hong Kong Green and Sustainable Finance Awards 2021” presentation ceremony cum “2021 HKQAA Symposium” hosted by The Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (“HKQAA”). Our management team also took home the “Outstanding Award for Leaders and Strategists Promoting the Issuance of Green and Sustainable Financial Instruments”, reflecting the recognition of capital market of our performance and sustainable development capabilities in environmental protection, social responsibility, and corporate governance.