On May 19, 2026, Forbes' official website officially announced that the results of the "2025 Forbes China ESG Influential Business Leaders" selection have been unveiled, with Tang Xing, founder of Grouphorse Group, being named to the "2025 Forbes China ESG Influential Business Leaders " list.

Tang Xing has once again been named to the Forbes list.

This marks Tang Xing's second time receiving recognition from Forbes. Previously, he was named to the "2025 Forbes China Top 100 Most Influential Chinese Elites" list. Being selected twice by the same world-class authority across different dimensions is a strong testament to the cross-sector consistency of his personal influence, and further affirms Grouphorse Group's continued exploration in language services, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices, global governance, and high-quality data capability building.

This selection was initiated by Forbes China and jointly evaluated by leading ESG experts and institutional representatives. It covers five core tracks: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Green Finance, Life Sciences, Low-Altitude Economy, and New Energy & Carbon Neutrality. The evaluation dimensions include innovation capability, environmental contribution, social impact, corporate governance, and future potential. Tang Xing was featured in the "New Energy & Carbon Neutrality" track, which includes a total of 28 honorees, among them industry leaders such as Jia Shaoqian (Chairman of Hisense), Zhong Baoshen (Chairman of LONGi Green Energy), Cao Renxian (Chairman of Sungrow Power Supply), Zhu Yufeng (Vice Chairman and President of GCL Group), Gao Haichun (Co-Chairwoman of Trina Solar), Huang Hongsheng (Chairman of Skywell New Energy Vehicles / Founder of Skyworth), and Nan Junyu (Director and Vice President of CHINT). (For the full list, please click "Read More" at the end of the article to visit the official Forbes website.)

Behind the Recognition: Tang Xing's ESG Practice Path

Tang Xing, a former visiting scholar at Columbia University, also serves as an adjunct master's supervisor at Fudan University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and other institutions. His entry into the ESG field has followed a practice path that advances standard-setting, talent cultivation, international issue organization, and high-quality data capability building in parallel.

At the standard-setting level, Tang Xing led the drafting of China's first ESG training standard, the Enterprise ESG Comprehensive Capacity Building and Enhancement Training Specification, and participated as a key drafter in the development of the ESG Evaluation Guidelines for State-Owned Enterprises. In addition, the Grouphorse ESG Textbook Series (published by Fudan University Press) has become an important academic reference in China's domestic ESG education sector.

In terms of industry-education integration and talent cultivation, Tang Xing has driven Grouphorse to successively establish a number of ESG academies and industry centers, each with "first-of-its-kind" positioning, including: the Tianjin Foreign Studies University Grouphorse ESG Industry Academy (China's first ESG academy), the Sichuan International Studies University Grouphorse ESG Global Governance Talent Industry Academy (the first ESG academy in Western China), the East China Jiaotong University Grouphorse Transportation ESG Data Governance Industry Center (China's first ESG data governance industry center), the Guangdong Chamber of Commerce ESG Service Center (the first ESG center in South China), and the Southwest Petroleum University School of Foreign Languages Grouphorse ESG Center (China's first ESG center established within a foreign languages school of a "Double First-Class" university). These initiatives have systematically embedded ESG principles into China's higher education system.

Notably, as the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence drives a sustained increase in demand for high-quality semantic data, cross-lingual knowledge translation, compilation of international rule corpora, and trustworthy governance frameworks, Grouphorse has been promoting the alignment of foreign language talent cultivation with high-quality data capability building. This involves exploring new roles for language students in data annotation, cross-lingual semantic processing, international rule corpus compilation, knowledge graph construction, and AI training data support. This has further extended Grouphorse's original system of "language services—international communication—ESG education" into a continuous chain of "language services—knowledge production—data governance—AI support."

On the international discourse front, in January 2026, Tang Xing was the only Asian representative to engage in dialogue with H.E. Annalena Baerbock, President of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. In 2025, he was selected as one of the global top five finalists for the Asia Society (founded by the Rockefeller family) "Global Talent Impact Award." In 2024, he was invited to attend the UN Summit of the Future, convened at the initiative of UN Secretary-General António Guterres. In 2023, he was received by UN Assistant Secretary-General and CEO of the UN Global Compact, Sanda Ojiambo.On the industrial implementation front of green initiatives, Grouphorse exclusively hosted the "Green Finance and Sustainable Development Collaborative Innovation Forum" at the 8th China International Import Expo (CIIE), which was selected as one of 15 ESG-themed events officially recommended by the Shanghai municipal government.In terms of international issue organization, from 2025 to 2026 alone, Grouphorse has successively co-hosted side events at the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum (one in 2025 and two in 2026), a parallel session at the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) (2026), a side event at the UN Ocean Conference (2025), and a side event at the UN Second World Summit for Social Development (2025). In less than two years, Grouphorse has made its voice heard at the United Nations on more than six occasions, each time setting its own agenda as a host organization.

Meanwhile, as issues concerning trustworthy data, responsible artificial intelligence, and youth digital capability building continue to gain momentum within the UN system, Tang Xing has begun to more explicitly extend Grouphorse's capabilities in international agenda organization, cross-lingual collaboration, and knowledge translation into the intersecting landscape of "language × AI × global governance." This means that Tang Xing's inclusion in the "New Energy & Carbon Neutrality" track not only reflects his capacity for institutional development and talent cultivation in green initiatives, but also highlights his evolving role as a composite organizer who is driving China's knowledge service system toward an upgraded capacity for data governance and AI governance support. As Forbes commented on Tang Xing: "Tang Xing, founder of Grouphorse Group, has brought Chinese language services and ESG education into the UN system, opening up a new pathway of 'knowledge going global' in global governance." Today, this pathway is being further extended into scenarios related to high-quality data, international rule semantic capabilities, and artificial intelligence governance.

The Next Phase of Grouphorse's ESG Strategy

Tang Xing stated that this honor is not only a recognition of his personal practice path, but also an affirmation of Grouphorse Group's existing strategic direction, and has further strengthened the company's confidence in continuing to deepen its relevant initiatives in the next phase. Looking ahead to the new stage of data factor market development and the deepening application of artificial intelligence during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period (2026–2030), Grouphorse will continue to take "language × AI × global governance" as its core framework, promoting the integration of high-quality data infrastructure development with the ESG system, and continuing to contribute Chinese solutions in areas such as international communication, youth capacity building, cross-border knowledge services, and cross-lingual high-quality semantic data capability building.

More specifically, Grouphorse will further leverage its established strengths in language services, international agenda organization, and university partnership networks to promote the integration of ESG discourse system development with AI-era data capability building. It will explore new pathways that support trustworthy AI, international communication, and global governance capacity enhancement through high-quality language data, rule corpora, and youth training mechanisms.

About Grouphorse

Grouphorse Group is an official service provider to the United Nations, with its business spanning six major sectors: language services, foreign-related consulting, education and training, human resources, global communication, and artificial intelligence. The Group holds multiple institutional memberships, including membership in the UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Alliance, the UNESCO Green Education Partnership, and the UN University Global AI Network. It has long been committed to advancing the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the development of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) systems, and has now become a representative driving force in China in the fields of ESG education, international communication, data governance, and cross-lingual AI capability building.

Appendix: Full List of the "2025 Forbes China ESG Influential Business Leaders "