On Jun 24, 2014, professor Wang Yao, the director of RCCEF attended the 2014 Banking Environment Initiative Forum in Hong Kong, invited by the University of Cambridge and Barclays. She made a keynote speech on The Experiences and Problems of China Green Credit Policy. About 100 Participants from the University of Cambridge, Nanyang Technological University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Would Resources Institute and other universities and research institutions; Barclays, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas SA, China Development Bank, China Construction Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and other bank form home and abroad as well as Unilever, Nestle and other multinational corporation have attended the forum.
The forum was chaired by Jeremy Wilson, the vice-president of Barclays. The forum started with a speech by Antony Jenkins, the president of Barclays and chairman of Banking Environment Initiative (BEI). He indicated that climate change and resource shortage is the great challenge worldwide. During the process of promoting global sustainable development, bank should take the social responsibility. Since BEI foundation 3 years ago, BEI has devoted itself to promoting banks’ concern towards environment protection and guiding capital flow to low-carbon green fields.
The forum discussed about Asian Sustainable Development and Bank Conduction, The Role of Supervision: Experience from China, The Influence of Soft Product, The Trade Finance Plan of Promoting Zero Deforestation, Green Supply China Finance, Sustainable Invest Risk and Chance based on Asian circumstances. Professor Wang Yao of RCCEF and Dr. Li Rui from Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Investment Banking Division, who are the only two Chinese guest speakers, shared the implementation experiences about the China Green Credit Policy from the perspectives of policy background and development as well as practice. Green Credit Policy is the only credit policy that jointly launched by financial regulatory agencies and environment protection departments.
During the Q&A section, professor Wang Yao answered question of ‘Why green credit policy is not legally binding’, ‘What are the challenges during the green credit policy implementation ’ and ‘What can we learn from and improve for the green credit policy ’. Participants showed their interest on the topic and made long conversation with professor Wang Yao. Professor Wang Yao was also interviewed by international media.
