China has been actively promoting high-quality development of green finance and this year marks the fourth anniversary of the China Green Finance Committee (China GFC)—the platform for developing green finance action in China that was originally established in 2015 in advance of China’s hosting of the G20. In the past four years, China GFC and its 200 plus members have played important roles in terms of facilitating policy research, raising awareness, developing products and tools, and catalyzing international cooperation including for last year’s release of the Green Investment Principles for the Belt and Road.
In May, the China GFC held its annual meeting, which focused on the following areas:
- Local green finance innovation and development
- Establishment of an international green finance center in Beijing
- Green investment along the Belt and Road Initiative
- Green finance product development and innovation
- Information disclosure and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment
- Financial services in support of green consumption, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and green agriculture
Kate Li, Associate Director of Green Finance Center at the Paulson Institute, spoke on a panel on how financial services support of green consumption, SMEs and green agriculture, and shared international cases on utilizing fintech to promote inclusive financing.
In remarks at the meeting, Chen Yulu, Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China emphasized that “China’s green finance has entered a new stage of in-depth development.” Going forward, China will focus on four tasks— conduct more research studies on green finance, develop green finance standards system, promote green finance products and services innovation, and enhance international cooperation in green finance. As China aims to execute these tasks, the China GFC will clearly have an exciting and critical role to play in supporting the development of a robust green finance market in China.