At our initiative, the topic of green finance was included in the G20 agenda for the first time this year, and a Green Finance Study Group was set up to launch a comprehensive G20 report on green finance. In this report, the definition, purpose and scope of green finance, and the challenges it faces are clarified, and suggestions are offered for countries to develop green finance to support global sustainable development.

From the first appearance of green finance issues in the G20 to the joint issuance of the Guiding Opinions on Building a Green Financial System by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and seven other ministries and commissions, China has become the first economy in the world to establish a green finance policy system.

The People's Bank of China emphasized that the main purpose of building a green financial system is to mobilize and incentivize more social capital to be invested in the green industry, and at the same time more effectively curb polluting investments. Building a green financial system will not only help accelerate the transition of China's economy to greening, but also help promote technological progress in environmental protection, new energy sources, energy conservation and other fields, and accelerate the cultivation of new economic growth points.

Globally, green finance, as a financing method that has risen to prominence in recent years, is becoming an important driving force for the realization of green growth and sustainable development worldwide. Whether from top-level design or private participation, China's green financial system is becoming a global leader in green finance.

For example, Ant Financial, the Internet finance giant, recently opened carbon accounts for 450 million users of its Alipay, which is so far the world's personal carbon account platform.

Recently, seven ministries and commissions, including the People's Bank of China and the Ministry of Finance, jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on Building a Green Financial System (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), which comprehensively deploys China's green financial system and solves the problem of difficult and expensive financing in the green industry.

Ma Jun, chief economist of the Research Bureau of the People's Bank of China and director of the Green Finance Committee of the Chinese Society of Finance, believes that the introduction of the Opinions signifies that a high degree of consensus has been formed in China from the strategic level to the level of all relevant ministries and commissions.

"China is ushering in a golden period for the development of green finance." Zeng Gang, director of the Banking Research Office of the Institute of Finance of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that China is building and perfecting its own green financial system at the same time, but also to participate in the formulation of global green financial rules for the global economy to realize the green and low-carbon development to contribute to the "Chinese wisdom".

It is understood that China is a country where a government-backed organization (i.e., the Green Finance Committee of the Chinese Society of Finance) has issued its own criteria for defining green bonds.At the end of 2015, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the Green Finance Committee of the Chinese Society of Finance (CSF) launched China's green bond market by releasing both the announcement on green financial bonds and the Catalogue of Support for Green Bond Projects (2015 Edition). Since then, the NDRC and two stock exchanges have also issued guidelines on green corporate bonds and green corporate bonds.

Ma Jun said the development of the green bond market has multiple benefits, such as, opening up new financing channels for green enterprises and projects, solving maturity mismatches between banks and enterprises, providing investors with a new asset class, and reinforcing issuers' green investment behaviors through reputational effects.
Liang Xiaojing, manager of Pudong Development Bank's Asset and Liability Management Department, also said that the marketization of interest rates in China has been basically completed, and the channels for banks to expand their liabilities have become more diversified. As a kind of financial bond, the issuance of green bonds can help improve the structure of assets and liabilities.

Participation of all market parties

Improve the "green" gold and credibility

"China's green bond market is currently driven from the top down, which is different from the bottom up development of foreign countries starting from social responsibility funds." Cao Jin, Director of Innovative Business of Hesheng Asset, said that as an investor, he is optimistic about the long-term development of green bonds, but the short-term investment appraisal is still concerned about the yield and security. He believes that the low interest rate of green projects is indeed favorable to the green industry to reduce financing costs, but it also means that the investor's yield is insufficient, which may be contrary to the original intention of investors. Therefore, it is necessary for the regulator to take measures such as subsidizing interest rates to attract investors to choose the green market.

Liu Wei, Deputy Director of the Bond Business Department of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, suggested that the quality of green bond issuance is more important than the quantity, and that the green bond market should achieve a "standardized start and healthy development", hoping that each green bond will be standardized and standardized in terms of green forensics, sustainability assessment, and assessment of future green performance.