On December 11, 2020, the signing ceremony of the Action Initiative of Fujian Financial Industry in Multi-Party Governance of Ecological Environment and the press release of the Benchmarking Projects for Multi-Party Governance of Ecological Environment were held in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province of China. Guo Ningning, Vice Governor of Fujian Province, came to the scene to launch the Action Initiative, and Tao Yiping, President of the Industrial Bank (IB) read out the Action Initiative of Fujian Financial Industry for Multi-Party Governance of Ecological Environment on behalf of Fujian financial institutions, which is the first action initiative on ecological environment governance put forward by financial institutions on their own initiatives in China.
Fujian is an important birthplace of Xi Jinping thought on ecological civilization and the first national experimental zone for ecological civilization. As a national joint-stock commercial bank with origins and roots there, IB is committed to promoting the development of “Eco-Fujian” and the “Fujian version of the Equator Principles” together with financial peers through the Action Initiative of Fujian Financial Industry for Multi-party Governance of Ecological Environment and the synchronous release of the “Benchmarking Projects for Multi-party Governance of Ecological Environment”.
It is reported that the initiative consists of nine articles, covering such aspects as practicing the “Two Mountains Theory”, supporting green industries, rejecting polluting financing, strictly adhering to the bottom line of compliance, promoting rectification and restoration, strengthening professional capacity, enhancing green operations, joining hands with multiple parties for common governance, and sharing green information. Moreover, IB will develop a series of project environmental and social risk management tool kits, draw on the concept and management methods of Equator Principles, share the successful experience in project classification and information disclosure accumulated over the past 13 years in practicing the Equator Principles. Furthermore, IB will introduce public interest organizations of environmental protection as third-party experts to support the integration of the development of a set of international best practice experience of the Equator Principles with the financing and credit business in Fujian Province so as to form a set of environmental and social risk management system and business process applicable to local financing projects, and realize the refinement, dissemination and localization of the Equator Principles.
The project “Green Textile Industrial Park of Kemen Industrial Park Transformation in Lianjiang of Fujian Province”, which was released on the same day, is jointly initiated by IB, who works together with insurance institutions and public interest organizations of environmental protection. It will be the first integrated industrial park of clean manufacturing, dyeing and finishing in Fujian Province, and will strive to change the public’s impression of heavy pollution in the weaving and dyeing industry through unified arrangement of infrastructures such water, electricity, steam and sewage treatment. The project innovates the multi-party governance model of “government-bank-insurance-company-NGO”, puts the Action Initiative of Fujian Financial Industry for Multi-party Governance of Ecological Environment in effect, gathers the professional capabilities and technologies of each member in their respective sectors, realizes the collaboration in environmental and social risk management, and jointly explores the management experience of multi-party governance of ecological environment .
As a pioneer of sustainable finance in China, IB has not only focused on its own green finance development, but also actively explored the ways of fulfilling its social responsibility of financial support for ecological environment governance, and innovated a new model of ecological environment governance in which the government, enterprises and banks work together for the same goal. The Action Initiative of Fujian Financial Industry for Multi-party Governance of Ecological Environment and the accompanying “Benchmarking Projects for Multi-party Governance of Ecological Environment” will form a set of practical experience in ecological environment governance, which will be disclosed to the public in the form of white paper and annual report at a later stage, allowing to share the “Fujian experience” and gather new momentum for financial support to China’s ecological environment governance.
IB, which started from Fujian, has always taken there as the base for developing green finance business, carried out such green finance for 14 years, and continuously innovated products and service models, in which the “high value” of Fujian’s ecology and “high-quality” of economic development through the “financing + intelligence” integration go hand in hand. Recently, IB gathered the advantages of its headquarters and green finance and introduced the Action Plan of Industrial Bank for Serving Fujian to Promote High-Quality Development Beyond All Aspects to fully support the construction of Fujian’s ecological province, better serve Fujian to promote high-quality development beyond all aspects and the vision of “14th Five-Year Plan” for the construction of beautiful China. By the end of 2025, IB will strive to reach the investment of green financing services in Fujian province with the balance of RMB 110 billion and the number of 4,300 green finance customers.
It is reported that as one of the three theme events of the 18th China Strait Innovation Project and Achievement Fair (hereinafter referred to as the “618 Strait Innovation Fair”), this event was jointly guided by Fujian Provincial Finance Office, Fuzhou Central Branch of the People’s Bank of China, Fujian Supervision Bureau of China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission Fujian Banking Insurance Regulatory Bureau, Fujian Securities Regulatory Commission, Fujian Department of Ecology and Environment, Fujian Department of Commerce, and organized by the Organizing Committee Office of China Strait Innovation Project Achievement Fair and hosted by IB. The event was attended by financial institutions such as IB, China Construction Bank, Fujian Province Credit Union, Straits Insurance, Pacific Insurance, IB Securities, and Huafu Securities, as well as representatives from enterprises and public interest organizations such as Kemen Industrial Park Management Committee of Lianjiang, Hengshen Holding Group, and Fujian Public Interest Center of Greenwalker Environmental Protection.