RLX Technology Upgraded to 'A' by MSCI ESG Rating, Ahead of Its Global Peers

BEIJING, Nov. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- RLX Technology (NYSE: RLX), known for its RELX-branded e-vapor products, announced today that it has been upgraded to 'A' by MSCI ESG Rating, taking a dramatic leap from CCC last year, ranking ahead of global e-vapor peers.

MSCI ESG ratings measure the management of financially relevant ESG risks and opportunities over 8,500 companies and more than 680,000 equity and fixed income securities globally. .

The ESG rating represents the capital market's recognition of RLX's commitment to business ethics, responsible marketing, products safety and quality, supply chain labor standards, chemical safety and ESG key issues.

In addition to MSCI, RLX has recently achieved excellent results from a number of the world's leading ESG rating agencies. Morningstar Sustainalytics has improved RLX's ESG risk rating from 'high' to 'medium' in the tobacco industry, topping the chart among global e-vapor companies. RLX was also ranked first among its global e-vapor peers in the latest annual S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment.

RLX has always regarded ESG as part of the company's core competitiveness. It has established an ESG committee at the board level to develop sustainability strategies, aiming to comprehensively improve its ESG performance and ensure the implementation of relevant initiatives.

In MSCI's ESG rating, RLX has achieved relatively high recognition in product safety and quality. Since its inception, RLX has invested over RMB 800 million in research and development, forming a "1+4" science research chain covering product quality, physiochemical research, toxicology research, long-term impact assessment and clinical research, while establishing its laboratory matrix consisting of eight labs.

RLX is also committed to driving sustainable development along the entire value chain. RLX regularly conducts ESG performance assessments on existing suppliers. It also conducts the third-party audit on selected suppliers based on the RELX Code of Conduct for Business Partners and the SA8000 Standard.In the meantime, RLX advocates the concept of sustainable consumption, and encourages users to participate in the "Pods Reborn" recycling program to recycle used pods. The Pods Reborn recycling program has covered 188 cities across China by the end of June, 2022.

In April 2022, RLX also launched its net-zero emissions plan Aim for Zero to achieve carbon neutrality in its direct operations by 2033 and along the value chain by 2050.

Since 2021, RLX has started to disclose its environmental information on Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) including carbon emissions, climate change response strategies and climate change risk and opportunity assessments. CDP's environmental disclosure and scoring methodology is widely-recognized as the gold standard for corporate environmental transparency. In the future, RLX will share the progress and achievements on its decarbonization journey with investors and the global community on a regular basis.

About RLX Technology Inc.

RLX Technology Inc. is a leading branded e-vapor company in China. The Company leverages its strong in-house technology and product development capabilities and in-depth insights into adult smokers' needs to develop superior e-vapor products. RLX Technology Inc. sells its products through an integrated offline distribution and retail model tailored to China's e-vapor market.

SOURCE RLX TECHNOLOGY