The head of the Chinese central bank has flagged plans to strengthen green financing for projects and partnerships in relation to the Belt and Road initiative.
Speaking at the Boai Forum in Hainan on 20 April, Yi Gang (易纲), governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), said that it would continue to drive green financing work for Belt and Road in two key areas.
These areas include:
- Continue to implement “green investment principles” for Belt and Road. “At the end of 2018 we proposed the green investment principles for the Belt and Road initiative, encouraging financial institutions to fully understand ESG (environment, social responsibility and governance) risk during the process of participation in Belt and Road development, effectively make environmental information disclosures and make use of green financing tools,” said Yi. “There are already 39 Chinese and foreign financial institutions that have entered this agreement, and PBOC will continue to encourage financial institutions to assess environmental and climate change risk during the process of Belt and Road investment.”
- Employ multiple channels to strengthen green development capability. “The People’s Bank of China will continue to help developing nations to strengthen green finance capability, strengthen their own green transformation, and provide related capacity development for green finance to those developing nations that need it,” said Yi.
In 2020 the Chinese government set the targets of achieving peak carbon prior to 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. At the start of 2021 the Chinese government made expansion of green finance one of its “key work missions” for the year, as well as for the 14th Five Year Plan running from 2021 to 2025.
