A forum on building policy systems for green investment and financing was recently held in Beijing. Scholars and experts shed light on such issues as the significance and implementation of green investment under the framework of the Belt and Road (B&R) initiative.

Cao Mingdi, deputy director of the Department of Green Financing under the Chongyang Financial Research Institute at Renmin University of China, said that since the launch of the B&R initiative, China’s foreign investment has grown continuously and rapidly. The contribution of China’s foreign investment to the investment along the B&R routes has increased remarkably with a constantly increasing investment volume, rapidly growing investment flow and expanding investment fields. Meanwhile, the industries involved in investment have gradually diversified, their investment structure has improved and the cooperation in infrastructure connectivity has been enhanced. From 2016 onwards, with remarkable achievements in green financing, China’s leadership in the financial industry has also won international praise and support. The development and practices of green financing in China have provided objects and examples for green financing along the B&R routes.

Ma Jun, director of the Center for Finance and Development at Tsinghua University, said that we are in need of green investment to respond to such issues as climate change and pollution. The infrastructure construction in B&R countries is closely related to the climate and environment. At the same time, we need to mitigate risks brought by the climate and environment in the course of the implementation of the B&R initiative. We should regard sustainability as central to entrepreneurial governance, fully understand the environmental risks of projects and disclose them in time, and strengthen the usage of financial instruments and supply chain to support green investment.

Mo Lingshui, a climate and energy policy expert at Asian Development Bank (ADB), suggested that we should establish a mechanism for evaluating B&R investment, set up demonstrations and examples of investment evaluation, and form mechanisms for green extra-cost apportionment and profit sharing. By establishing the B&R strategic associations for green investment on the basis of market mechanisms, we can build technological support systems for the green investment evaluation mechanisms. Moreover, we should push ahead with raising cooperation and recognition among countries regarding green evaluation methods, thirdparty certification and information disclosure, communicating most with B&R countries.

(Edited by Su Xuan)