How Firm’s Commitment to ESG Drives Green and Low-Carbon Transition: A Longitudinal Case Study from Hang Lung Properties

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear Authors,

The study covers current topics related to ESG. The concept of ESG itself is relatively new but not fully defined. In particular, it is not established what scope of ESG commitments and performance reporting is expected. It seems this is still an open question. The political and social environment may continue to change and expand expectations towards the company within the so-called ESG. On the other hand, companies can expect benefits from declaring and carrying out the expected activities as they achieved them because of the introduction of CSR.
This article attempts to assess whether meeting the expectations of the environment brings benefits. This is a good direction of research. The work may provide some inspiration for other researchers who would like to explore the importance of ESG more broadly.

The work could be better if the literature review not only reported what is assumed to be achieved by implementing ESG (sections 2.1 and 2.2) but also indicated whether it could actually work in the entire economy. Critical opinions regarding ESG effects can be used. Are these only benefits: economic, financial, environmental, or investment costs with the hope of future benefits?



The aim of the work is appropriate and adequately justified. The gap is addressed (210-226).
The authors asked several important questions: whether ESG is profitable, whether the implementation leads to achieving the intended goals and whether ESG effects include technological progress, which takes place even without an ESG strategy (section 2.3).

Detailed comments
Describe the reasons for the increase in the intensity of ESG description in 2015-2017. Is this the period of full implementation (as it is suggetsed on fig. 3)

The description for tables and figures needs to be improved. Please add a note regarding what is included in the table (in the figure). For example, whether they are lines of text or words.

The description in section 4.2 regarding the organizational structure (403-443) seems too extensive. Is it a distinctive feature of the company that there are various management support committees?

The description in section 4.3 regarding the planned specific solutions (lines 480-622) is too long. For example, specific solutions do not need to be described; they need to indicate directions (as in Table 2) rather than provide descriptions. It may be worth compiling the leading indicators in a new table (e.g., 20% of the material from the local market - up to 800 km; 10% of the material contains recycled raw materials, etc. etc.). These indicators are specific commitments. Why they are not in Table 2 should also be added.

The conclusions section is too long. These three main proposals should be emphasized and probably also added that achieving ESG goals (especially achieving lower emissions and a smaller carbon footprint) is possible mainly thanks to the effective implementation of innovative solutions. Therefore, ESG is primarily an orientation towards searching for and implementing technological progress (see Figure 6).

It should also be clearly stated whether the introduction of ESG and related activities brings benefits to the company and owners. Is there any effect on the level of profitability, or are these still plans and investments?

The weaker point of the work is that it reports activities and plans in the field of ESG and indicates the advantages of introducing various innovations. Still, there is neither a statement nor an indication of the lack of data on whether such activities bring economic benefits to the company or, for example, reduce the OPEX of real estate users. There is no question: what's next, whether it is a good model for others, whether these voluntary obligations may become obligatory. These types of questions are worth asking at the end of the work.

The literature used in the study is current. It seems that additional items describing the implementation of ESG in various sectors (e.g. banking, manufacturing, energy generation, constructions, infrastructure) should be used. Fortunately, many aspects have already been covered (transport, food processing, etc.). It is worth showing what benefits the introduction of ESG brings.

Author Response

Answers are indicated in the attachment 1.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

First of all, I would like to thank the authors for thinking of this journal for their work.

The topic of the paper has potential, it could be interesting. However:

From the current title the object of the paper is not well understood. Both in the title and in the abstract, acronyms are used which do not explain what they stand for (ESG strategy). Likewise, in the abstract it is not clear/arranged what the specific objectives of the work are, the specific variables of interest measured, or what HLP encompasses. It should also be noted that the methodology/framework used is underdeveloped and is not a commonly used/known method, perhaps its appropriate use or usefulness for the work should be improved with literature. On the other hand, the work is too long and the reader would appreciate more concreteness and clarity in what has been collected.

The literature review is adequate and up to date, although the hypotheses could have been indicated for the sake of clarity.

Author Response

Answers are indicated in the attachment 2.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Your research is really interesting, and it gives answers to many questions, e.g. how can investors benefit from corporate sustainability programs? On the technical side, MDPI and Sustainability require a numerical system for citing literature sources (References: References must be numbered in order of appearance in the text (including table captions and figure legends) and listed individually at the end of the manuscript. We recommend preparing the references with a bibliography software package, such as EndNote, ReferenceManager or Zotero to avoid typing mistakes and duplicated references - https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/instructions). 

Kudos to the authors for an excellent longitudinal qualitative study. The manuscript is excellently conceived, but, on the other hand, I have the feeling that you have idealized HLP Company too much and that you should have tried to find a way to mention the company less, and to focus more on the evolution of good practices and the introduction and application of ESG principles. In the Discussion, you proposed three Propositions based on the results of a qualitative study. Instead of three propositions in the Discussion, you should have put three research hypotheses in the second section (Literature Review). If you accept this suggestion, I suggest you rename the second section to Literature Review and Hypotheses Development. The conclusion lacks Policy implications that can be added to the Managerial Implications. I hope you find these suggestions useful and that your important research will soon see the light of day.

Author Response

Answers are indicated in the attachment 3.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

You are not included recommendations done in the paper. I not see any improvements.

Author Response

Second round reply from Authorship: the research question is about how a firm's commitment to ESG translates into tangible outcomes such as reduced carbon emissions and improved environmental performance thus overall performance. In details, it firstly aims to analyze the ESG-related topics and activities of HLP over the ten-year period to understand the evolution of their sustainability strategy. Second, it investigates which factors determine firm’s ESG commitment that leads to its green and low-carbon transition. Third, its probes how firm maintain sustainable development ingrained in the corporate strategies and practices, eventually improve ESG corporate performance.

Specific objectives: In the abstract, it is stated that “…how a firm's commitment to ESG translates into tangible outcomes that benefit investors…”

Specific variables: In the abstract, it is mentioned that “…it identifies three key enablers of ESG commitment- ESG integration and evolvement, high-intensity ESG effort, and technological innovation…”

Methodology/framework: in the abstract, it is indicated that “…In this paper, it applies textual analysis…Employed with "commitment-action-outcomes" framework…”

Further, thanks for your advices, chapter 2 has been renamed from “literature review” to “Literature Review and Hypotheses Development”, to reflect our new thoughts that instead proposed three Propositions based on the results of a qualitative study in the Discussion, we decided to put three research hypotheses in the second section based on the Literature Review.

Last but not the least, we followed your advices and have reduced the pages.

Please see the supplemental reply highlighted in purple.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 3

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

OK. I think that the paper could be more improved, but it is ok.