Green Development and Financing for Sustainable Development Forum successfully held

On Oct 30, the 2023 World Cities Day Green Development and Financing for Sustainable Development Forum was held at the Shanghai International Convention Center. 

Zhou Hanmin, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and president of the Shanghai Public Diplomacy Association; Zhang Yonggang, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Management Commission; Li Rong, vice-president of Shanghai Media Group and Chairwoman of Yicai Media; and Yuan Yefeng, Deputy Director-General of Shanghai Lujiazui Financi City Authority, attended and delivered speeches.

In his keynote speech, Zhang Xingrong, director of the Yangtze River Delta Financial Research Institute of Bank of China Shanghai Branch, said that sustainable development investment and financing have become an important engine for economic growth in China and the world, and have also provided a boost to the sustainable development of cities. 

“First of all, it is necessary to strengthen the top-level design and improve the green finance organization system; second, we need to optimize financial supply and enrich the green financial products system; and third, we should deepen interdisciplinary collaboration and build a green finance cooperation system,” Zhang added.

SICC’s vice general manager Sun Wei pointed out the advantages and challenges of Shanghai in sustainable development. She said that Shanghai is a large city in terms of economy, industry and population, yet a small city in terms of space, resources and environmental capacity. To achieve green transformation, she said, Shanghai should focus on five major sectors - energy, industry, construction, transportation, and livelihoods, and set up comprehensive supportive systems, including enhanced policy system, sci-tech innovation, market-driven resource allocation, and engagement of all stakeholders.

According to Liu Jie, General Manager of the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange, the builder of China’s carbon credit market, there was still room for exploration and optimization in strengthening the incentives and improving the sustainable operation capacity of carbon inclusiveness. For this, he said, first, carbon inclusive incentives should be further diversified to mobilize the public's enthusiasm for emission reduction; second, the publicity of the carbon inclusive mechanism needed to be strengthened; and third, financial services for carbon inclusiveness participants and social investment in emission reduction needed to be enhanced through financial innovations like establishing carbon inclusiveness funds. Finally, he said, the carbon inclusiveness mechanism could leverage cutting-edge technologies like blockchain to improve its informatization, digital intelligence and security management.

Ma Wenjie, Dean of the Shanghai Institute of International Finance Center at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, put forward his views from the perspective of how finance could support sustainable development, especially from the perspective of how to build a set of market-oriented incentive mechanisms. He stressed the importance of achieving an alignment between the financial performance and social responsibility of green investment, and developing an efficient carbon market and carbon financial system. 

At the forum, the annual flagship report of the Yicai Research Institute - The 10th Anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative: New Silk Road Co-development, was officially released, and received enthusiastic responses from the participants.