Material Topic Management
China Life carries out material topic analysis every year through the four steps: examine, identify, verify, and establish. We establish a corresponding management approach for material topics that are identified to ensure that related measures are implemented. We referenced international trends in sustainable development, the opinions of domestic and overseas leading companies, and internal opinions in 2022, and adjusted the 23 sustainability-related issues covering environment, economy, and society to 20 issues, focusing more on core issues to communication with stakeholders more efficiently. After engaging stakeholders with respect to the 20 sustainability-related issues, we carried out material topic identification procedures and referenced the opinions of the Company's senior managers to identify 12 material topics.
The 12 sustainability-related issues serve as the basis for annual information disclosures and sustainable governance. We also disclose information on other sustainability-related issues in various chapters of this Report with consideration to the completeness of information. Compared with 2021, four material topics were added in 2022, namely “Green Operations,” “Responsible Investment,” “Digital Finance and Innovation,” and “Community Involvement,” which shows that stakeholders attach importance to China Life's performance in the 4 material topics above.
Material topic analysis process
Material topic matrix in 2022
Material Topic Impact Assessment
The Sustainable Development Department comprehensively evaluated the positive and negative "degree of impact" and "frequency/probability of occurrence" of the 12 material topics identified above with respect to their external ESG impact. Graphs are used to show the degree of impact of material topics in different aspects, so that the probability of future impacts of material topics can be observed. The material topics are then ranked by materiality according to the material topics matrix. We respond to potential impacts and make reinforcements by improving business processes and decision-making based on evaluation results.
