On April 1, 2025, at 14:30 pm, the 39th Forum on Digital Technology and Economic Finance Frontiers was successfully held. The theme of this lecture was "Hedging Climate Risk in Supply Chains", and the guest speaker was Associate Professor Xiangang Xin from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. The lecture was chaired by Jing Shi, Professor of the Finance School and  Chief Expert of the Innovation and Talent Base for Digital Technology and Finance. More than 30 teachers and students from the School of Finance participated in this lecture.

At the beginning of the lecture, Professor Jing Shi briefly introduced relevant information of Associate Professor Xiangang Xin to the participants and expressed his sincere gratitude for his availability to give a lecture at our college despite his busy schedule.

Associate Professor Xiangang Xin first discussed the profound impact of climate change on supply chains, noting that as natural disasters become more frequent and severe, enterprises’ theoretical understanding and practical strategies for assessing and addressing climate risks continue to evolve. To hedge against climate-related supply chain risks, many companies have begun using forward contracts for demand-side risk management.

During the lecture, Associate Professor Xin analyzed how enterprises improve climate risk response strategies through forward contracts based on extensive empirical data. He found that when suppliers suffer from natural disasters linked to climate change, the likelihood of companies adopting forward contracts for risk hedging increases significantly. In contrast, this strategy shows limited effectiveness for non-climate-related disasters. Additionally, forward contracts become a crucial demand management tool when enterprises hold greater decision-making power in the supply chain or cannot rely on futures markets for risk management.

In conclusion, Associate Professor Xin outlined the long-term development of corporate climate risk management, emphasizing the need for businesses to establish more unified and comprehensive risk management systems and enhance collaboration with supply chain stakeholders to minimize the disruptive impacts of climate change on corporate governance and operations. Faculty and students at the event expressed that they benefited greatly. The lecture concluded successfully.

Speaker Introduction

Xiangang Xin is an Associate Professor of School of Accountancy at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He obtained his MA degree from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and PhD degree from CUHK. He has published research articles in journals such as Journal of Financial Economics, The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Contemporary Accounting Research. He has broad research interests in financial accounting and corporate governance topics and is particularly interested in corporate disclosure, culture and international accounting.

Frontier Forum for Digital Technology and Finance introduction

Recent years have witnessed a dramatic acceleration in a digital revolution in economic sectors and a rapid adoption of the new generation of information technologies, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, big data, etc. These technologies effectively set off the digital economy. It has become a key driving force in creating global economic growth, improving the modernization level of governance capabilities, and promoting high-quality economic development in China. In particular, digital finance is the most important part of the digital economy. To explore the development direction of the cross-integration of digital technology and finance, the Innovation and Talent Base for Digital Technology and Finance is hosting the “Frontier Forum for Digital Technology and Finance”, in collaboration with the School of Finance, Wenlan School of Business, Economics School, School of Information and Safety Engineering, School of Statistics and Mathematics, School of Public Finance and Taxation of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law (ZUEL). This lecture series will invite the well-known scholars at home and abroad in digital technology, digital economy, digital finance, and other related fields as guest speakers, providing an open and cutting-edge academic exchange platform for interdisciplinary research on digital technology and finance.