A screen displays real-time information of national carbon emission trading in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, on July 16, 2021. (XINHUA) 

Despite the COVID-19 epidemic, Asian countries have continued their mobilization of finance for green and sustainable initiatives as climate financing across Asia in 2020 accounted for some 50 percent of the global total, compared to 17 percent for Western Europe and 13 percent for the United States and Canada, according to a report citing the latest estimates from the Climate Policy Initiative released by the Boao Forum for Asia on April 20. 

The Green Finance Committee of the China Society for Finance and Banking in late 2021 issued a report predicting China will need 487 trillion yuan ($75.53 trillion) in green and low-carbon investment over the next 30 years, according to Ma Jun, chairman of the committee. “In the international market, this amount will be even larger, and it may require hundreds of trillions of dollars in green and low-carbon investment,” Ma said at the forum on April 20. 

China, whilst maintaining an effective policy mix to spur green investment, is working toward a policy system that supports financing activities in a market-based way, and has made efforts to help other developing countries cope with climate change and promote global efforts in their green transition. 

In 2016, the People’s Bank of China, China’s central bank, led cross-department coordination to introduce a guideline on creating a green financial system, denoting the world’s first green financial policy framework approved and established by central government departments. 

Zhou Xiaochuan, Vice Chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia and China’s Chief Representative to the organization, said that the government also sends a signal to enterprises, investors and financial institutions to inform them if and when they are in fact reducing carbon emissions. 

This way, rational investment can be channeled to reach the [carbon peak and neutrality] goals according to the outlined roadmap and timetable, Zhou added.  

China has pledged to peak its carbon emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. 

Whereas the talent gap is huge, society at large, too, needs to do its bit. “Our existing talents are based on rules that have been in place since the Industrial Revolution, that is, physical materials, input into physical production, and consumption of physical concepts,” Zhu Min, former Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, told the forum. The antiquated formula, as Zhu called it, needs to be updated before reaching carbon neutralization. 

“It is not just about carbon neutral technology or emission reductions,” Zhu explained, “It’s about a change in mindset, from production to lifestyle. Only education can cultivate a new generation. It’s all about society.” 

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon   

Comments to taozihui@cicgamericas.com