China Green Finance Programme

The grant was awarded through the ICF Technical Assistance Programme in China, following a call for proposals in summer 2018. The programme has four overarching themes: • Harmonisation – harmonising green finance guidelines and standards that align with international practices. • Transparency: more transparent and responsible investment approaches that take account of climate-related financial risks and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investment. • Innovation: increased innovation in green finance products and practice models. • Capacity Building: furthering the UK-China green finance partnership, accelerating practical implementation of national green finance policies, and promoting wider stakeholder engagement and knowledge sharing at regional/city/local levels in China. Five key workstreams are funded under the Programme: 1) The formal set-up of a UK-China Green Finance Centre. This builds on existing engagement between the GFI and China Green Finance Committee to provide a formal platform to improve data access and usage, build capacity and improve knowledge amongst issuers and investors. 2) A UK-China TCFD climate and environmental information disclosure pilot. Announced at the 9th Economic and Financial Dialogue in December 2017, this required additional resourcing to match the extended duration (from 1 to 3 years) and deepening of scope, including additional Chinese participants. This workstream is coordinated by UN PRI. 3) UK-China GreenTech - The UK and China are recognized as world leaders in sustainable finance and innovative green and sustainable technology. To build on the UK-China FinTech bridge and support green technology solutions, funding was secured to explore setting up a green tech incubator to support the delivery of green outcomes to the real economy and financial services industry. 4) Green Belt & Road - China's Belt and Road Initiative Belt and Road developments will have a huge environmental impact on countries along its route. To future-proof these investments, the City of London Corporation set up a Greening the Belt and Road Investor Alliance (GBRIA) in 2017 to harmonise green infrastructure standards along the Belt and Road and optimise capital efficiency in green Belt and Road projects. Funding was focused on harmonising green BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) standards and principles and capacity-building. This workstream led to the launch of the Green Investment Principles for the Belt and Road (GIP). An institution that at March 2020 numbers 37 signatory institutions from 14 countries and regions, (primarily international banks) and 11 supporting organisations. 5) Greening long-term investment (insurance and pensions). While China has so far very successfully mobilised the banking sector on the green finance agenda, continued engagement with long term investors is important to fulfil the $90 trillion funding gap on green economy transition. Special focus is on the insurance and pension sectors, which, from an international perspective, are key to provide long term momentum for the entire investment chain to deepen ESG practices.