Events

Event: Engagement of Chinese banks towards green economy gathering pace says UNEP FI head at Beijing sustainability forum

The engagement of Chinese banks towards environmental sustainability principles is gathering pace amid signals from policy and law makers to shift towards a low carbon economy, UNEP FI’s head, Paul Clements-Hunt, told an audience of bankers on Wednesday during a banking forum in Beijing, China.

“I have been most positively impressed at the speed and depth with which Chinese banks are exploring, testing and internalizing sustainable financial approaches,” said Clements-Hunt in opening remarks at the China Sustainable Development Forum.

The highly anticipated meeting, organized by UNEP FI in collaboration with the China Banking Regulatory Commission and WWF China, offered Chinese and foreign bankers in attendance the opportunity to share knowledge on sustainable development themes amid recent efforts by the Chinese government to reduce the banking sector’s carbon footprint.

Chinese authorities instructed banks in 2007 to stop making loans to high-energy consuming and polluting industries with the launch of the Green Credit Policy.

UNEP FI’s fastest growing membership in recent years has been in the Asia-Pacific region, with now over a quarter of the partnership’s 197 members found there.

“If there is one message that I hope Chinese and participating foreign banks will take away today it is this: In a complex, complicated and competitive global market … banks with the ability to understand the full range of environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities will be positioned to become the thriving banks of the future,” said Clements-Hunt.

Read the full speech.