The Symposium on Synergizing Green Development Guidance for BRI Projects and BRI Green Investment Principles cohosted by the BRI International Green Development Coalition (BRIGC), the Institute of Finance and Sustainability (IFS) and ClientEarth, was held on August 30, 2021 in Beijing.
The event was attended and addressed by a stellar panel, including Mr. Erik Solheim, Convener of the BRIGC Advisory Committee and Senior Advisor of the World Resources Institute (WRI); Mr. Rhys Gordon-Jones, Financial and Professional Services Counsellor of British Embassy; Mr. Ma Jun, Advisor of the BRIGC Advisory Committee, Chairman of the Green Finance Committee (GFC) of China Society of Finance and Banking and President of IFS; Mr. Ye Yanfei, Counsel (DG Level) of the Policy Research Bureau at the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC); Mr. Li Yonghong, Deputy Director General of the Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center (FECO), Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE); Mr. Lian Jun, Counselor (Director-level), Department of Environmental Impact Assessment and Emission Management, MEE; Ms. Yin Hong, Deputy Director of the Modern Finance Research Institute of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC); Ms. Zhang Xiang, Secretary General of China International Contractors Association (CHINCA) and Mr. Dimitri de Boer, Chief Representative of ClientEarth China.
The symposium also attracted more than 40 representatives from around 20 Chinese and international institutions, including the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation (CAITEC), the Belt and Road Innovation and Development Center at the China Development Bank, the Belt and Road Financial Research Institute at the Export-Import Bank of China, Bank of China, China International Capital Corporation (CICC), PICC Reinsurance Co., Ltd., Fudan University, UK Pact, WRI, the Climate Bonds Initiative and the International Council on Clean Transportation, etc.
Mr. Erik Solheim pointed out in his remarks that green finance is the key to green transformation. The Green Development Guidance (GDG) for BRI Projects and the Green Investment Principles (GIP) for the Belt and Road Initiative provide powerful and innovative tools to boost green investment and financing. He looked forward to seeing both inject greater momentum into green transformation.
Mr. Rhys Gordon-Jones said that China and the UK had a lot to cooperate in areas such as green investment classification standards and tools. Such cooperation could produce tangible results to inform the upcoming 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) and contribute to the global fight against climate change.
Mr. Ma Jun suggested that the governments play a guiding role to further clarify what "green" and "brown" investments are with robust standards, strengthen the awareness of Chinese financial institutions on environmental and climate risk management, and leverage the potential of BRIGC and GIP to improve environmental governance.
Mr. Li Yonghong said that the cooperation between the environmental and the financial sector in promoting green BRI investment and financing should be strengthened, and a synergy should be formed by aligning the studies on green development guidelines with existing green investment and financing tools to work out solutions to climate and environmental crisis.
Experts at the meeting then discussed the policy guidance and demand as well as the challenges from greening of BRI projects, and the synergy of green investment and financing tools and standards.
Mr. Ye Yanfei analyzed the key areas for synergizing green investment and financing tools and emphasized the importance of developing standardized and differentiated green assessment tools, as well as strengthening government regulations and guidance.
Ms. Mao Xiaojing, Director of the Institute of West Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of MOFCOM, highlighted the significance of green investment by taking investment in Africa as an example and combing over the evolution of related policies and the prospect.
Mr. Wu Zhifeng, Office Director of the Belt and Road Innovation and Development Center of China Development Bank, made a few suggestions on issues such as how to bring in more partners, broaden the scope of green development cooperation and ramp up green investment etc.
Ms. Li Xiaowei, Deputy Director of the Belt and Road Financial Research Institute at the Export-Import Bank of China pointed out the transitional challenges facing financial institutions and offered suggestions to rise to these challenges in the context of global carbon neutrality.
Ms. Yin Hong provided valuable advice on establishing a policy and institutional framework, strengthening cooperation on green and low-carbon technologies, and promoting global financial regulatory cooperation.
Mr. Christoph Nedopil, Associate Professor of FISF Fudan University went through the similarities and differences between GDG and GIP in terms of the core concepts, application and whole process management, and proposed several steps to deepen the cooperation.
Ms. Zhang Xiang voiced from the perspective of industry associations the needs of businesses "going global" and suggested accelerating the integration and mutual recognition of standards.
Representatives from BRIGC and BIFS briefed the participants on the progress of GDG and GIP.
The symposium has contributed to the alignment between the environmental and the financial sectors in terms of policies related to green finance and environmental and climate management, forming a consensus on the green and low-carbon development of BRI finance and investment. The event proves to be successful, for it has paved the way for the upcoming green financial tools and standards that are more implementable, and lent support for financial institutions and enterprises in transition.
