April 2021 | Sustainable Finance Featured News

Author:CASVI

1. The ESG report of state-owned banks has been released; climate risk is now included in the risk management system.

Recently, six major state-owned banks have issued independent "Social Responsibility Reports" to disclose their ESG and increased the capacity to deal with climate risks. For financial institutions, the disclosure of ESG can reduce negative impact on the environment caused by commercial activities, products and services. At the same time, building a management system of environmental and social risk will promote financial support to help low-carbon projects and low-carbon companies. Financial institutions use ESG as their starting points to promote low-carbon and circular economy will help achieve carbon neutrality goals.

2. The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited has introduced a number of measures to improve the ESG disclosure and management of listed companies

On April 16, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Clearing Limited(HKEX) issued consultation documents on the provision of the Corporate Governance Code and the Listing Rules to the public regarding its revision proposal. The proposal mainly introduces new measures to improve the ESG disclosure and management level of Hong Kong listed companies.

Among them, regrading ESG disclosure policies, the HKEX has strengthened the role of the board of directors and required listed companies to compulsorily disclose the issued statement from the board of directors including the consideration and supervision of ESG structure.

3. Tencent has upgraded its strategy with an initial investment of 50 billion RMB to promote sustainable social innovation

Tencent recently launched a strategic upgrade and put forward the "sustainable social innovation" strategy, and announced that the company will invest 50 billion RMB in the first phase for fundamental science, education innovation, rural revitalization, carbon neutrality, FEW (food, energy and water), public emergency, senior care technology, and public welfare digitalization.

4. The catalog of green bond supported projects 2021 has been released. High-carbon emission projects such as the clean use of fossil fuel has been eliminated.

Recently, the “Catalogue of Green Bond Supported Projects (2021)” jointly issued by the People’s Bank of China, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission clarified that high-carbon emission projects such as the clean use of fossil energy will no longer be supported. The policy of using internationally accepted “no major damage" principle has been added to the catlogue, making carbon reduction rules stricter.

As a response to the catalog, the People's Bank of China and three other departments pointed out that green bonds is an important green financial tool which has drawn a lear line about the field and scope of green bonds. In terms of classification, the new catalogue is more in line with international standards: the second and third level of catalogue are consistent with the international mainstream standards which will help domestic and foreign entities to better identify, inquire and invest in green assets .

5. The Central Bank plans to launch a supportive tool for carbon emission reduction.

On May 11, the Central Bank released a report on China's monetary policy for Q1 2021. According to the report, the central bank will launch a supportive tool for carbon emission reduction which helps support qualified financial institutions provide preferential interest rate for projects with significant carbon emission reduction benefits. The Central Bank will also promote green and low-carbon development in accordance with market principles, and help the realization of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.

It is necessary to play the leading role to redirect monetary policy tools to the real economy, maintain the stability of re-lending and rediscount policies, and continue to provide inclusive and continuous financial support to agriculture-related enterprises, small and micro enterprises, and private enterprises. While maintaining the financial support for small and micro enterprises, the government will further increase support for individually-owned business.

Article classification: Alliance News 机构动态