Development of an ESG evaluation framework for China's energy industry using the PSR–AHP model

In recent years, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations have emerged as critical tools for evaluating the sustainable development capacity of economic entities, with information disclosure serving as an essential component of ESG assessment frameworks. However, in China, ESG disclosure among enterprises, particularly within the energy industry, remains insufficient. Moreover, most existing evaluation systems are adapted from foreign models and fail to account for the unique characteristics of Chinese enterprises and industry-specific contexts. To address these shortcomings, this study develops an ESG evaluation system tailored to the Chinese energy industry by integrating the pressure–state–response (PSR) model with the analytic hierarchy process. The proposed system comprises a three-level structure, including a goal layer encompassing environmental performance, social responsibility, and corporate governance; a first criteria layer subdivided into 9 PSR-based categories; and a second criteria layer containing 32 specific indicators. To ensure comprehensive and socially relevant weighting of the indicators, surveys were conducted among both experts and practitioners, and the aggregation of individual judgments method was employed to synthesize their assessments. The evaluation system was applied to five major state-owned Chinese energy enterprises, whose combined installed capacity represented over half of the national total, using ESG disclosure data from 2019 to 2023. The results indicate that while these enterprises generally achieved high ESG scores (all exceeding 0.75), their performance exhibited notable fluctuations, particularly in the environmental and governance dimensions. Environmental performance emerged as the most influential and volatile factor, underscoring its central role in shaping overall ESG outcomes. Social performance showed steady improvement, while governance performance followed a fluctuating trajectory before eventually rebounding. These findings highlight the necessity of developing stricter environmental standards alongside an ESG evaluation framework that accounts for industry-specific characteristics, in order to promote sustainable development and accelerate the green transformation of China's energy sector. Developing an ESG Evaluation System Tailored to the Chinese Energy Industry • Innovating integrates the PSR model with the AHP method in ESG evaluation of the energy industry: • PSR provides a logical framework (causal relationships + dynamic processes). • AHP provides a weighting mechanism, ensuring both scientific rigor and social relevance. • Combining academic expertise with practitioners’ real working experience, bridging the gap between theory and practice.