From February 26 to 27, G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting was held in Shanghai, during which green finance becomes an important subject. During the meeting, Achim Steiner, UN Deputy Secretary-General and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Executive Director paid a visit to Industrial Bank, China's first Equator Bank. On February 25, an international forum titled "Green Financial System: Financing for Sustainable Development" was held in Shanghai where Xue Hefeng delivered a keynote speech on behalf of Industrial Bank. Industrial Bank's positive exploration and performance in green financial product innovation, system building, social and environmental risk management and financing services drew the attention of Mr. Steiner.
UNEP works as the secretariat of G20 Green Finance Study Group. In his busy agenda, Mr. Steiner came to Industrial Bank to exchange views on financial services, green economy and so on.
"Green finance will be the lifeblood of financial development," said Mr. Steiner, "UNEP has been very concerned about how to use investment to promote low-carbon technologies and low-carbon economy. It is estimated that in the field of environmental protection and low-carbon, about 70% of investment comes from private sector, among which banking financial institutions will play an increasingly significant role." Data shows that, among 21 domestic major banking institutions, the loan balance of green credit projects is about 5.8 trillion yuan, and Industrial Bank ranks top among them. By the end of 2015, the bank has provided more than 6,000 energy-saving and environmental protection enterprises with green financing totaling over 800 billion yuan, and the balance of green financing is 394.2 billion yuan. As China's first Equator Bank, in recent years, Industrial Bank has also actively participated in the development of sustainable international financial standards e.g. Equator Principles, participated in the World Climate Conference to speak for Chinese financial institutions, safeguarded rights of speech for banking industry in emerging markets, and shared successful experiences with banks from Vietnam, Thailand, Mongolia and other emerging markets and countries. IB is not only a standing director unit in the Green Finance Committee of PBC, but also an executive director of the CBRC Green Credit Committee and a member in the development of Green Credit Guidelines.
During the talks, Mr. Steiner expressed appreciation for the results of Industrial Bank's exploration and experiment of green finance in the past ten years.
At the same time, Steiner indicated that, UNEP has been very concerned about how central banks and regulatory agencies can better promote financial institutions to serve green economy.
Xue Hefeng introduced that the Master Plan of Ecological Civilization System Reform issued by Chinese State Council clearly states to establish a green finance system; PBC has set up a professional committee of green finance; and CBRC issued a series of green credit guidelines and implementation situation.
"In terms of product innovation, PBC and NDRC also introduced green corporate bonds and financial bonds, which creates a favorable policy and market environment for the development of green finance for commercial banks." said Xue Hefeng.
Green bonds have been skyrocketing in China. In January 2016, Industrial Bank was approved to complete the first 10 billion yuan green finance bonds in China. Up to now, commercial banks have issued a total of 30 billion yuan green finance bonds. In addition, some non-financial enterprises are also actively preparing themselves to issue green bonds. Experts predict that in the future, China may need 2-4 trillion yuan of green investment annually.