Hosted by China Banking Association and organized by CICC, the "2021 Low-Carbon Transformation and Green Finance Direct Debt Financing Seminar" was successfully held on July 8th. Officials from CBIRC Policy Research Bureau and PBoC Financial Market Department addressed keynote speeches. China Banking Association and CICC, as the host and organizer, sent relevant person in charge to deliver speeches. The seminar centered on topics such as carbon neutrality, climate financing, financial institutions, green transformation and onshore green bond market etc. Nearly 180 representatives from 70 institutions including banks, local banking associations, asset management companies, securities companies, financial leasing companies, and consumption finance companies attended this seminar on-site.

In the keynote speech session, officials discussed the importance and significance of the financial industry in supporting the achievement of carbon neutrality from the perspectives of the green transformation and development of the banking industry and the building of an onshore green bond market. Ye Yanfei, level 1 inspector of CBIRC pointed out that, for financial institutions to realize carbon neutrality, dual focuses should be put on the carbon neutrality of the institutions themselves and the asset-end side. Besides, they should be paying great attention to the technology upgrading and emission reduction transformation in the high energy consumption industry. Peng Lifeng, deputy director of the Financial Market Department of the People’s Bank of China said that, improving the carbon neutrality bond system, strengthening the management of third-party assessment, and further detailing the disclosure of green bond information as well as post-event supervision have great importance for pushing the development of green bond market. Meanwhile, all parties are encouraged to roll out targeted measures so as to enhance the internal drivers for financial institutions to participate in the green debt financing.

In the address session, Pan Guangwei, Secretary of the Party Committee and full-time vice chairman of China Banking Association, and Liu Qingchuan, Managing Director of the Fixed Income Department of CICC, delivered speeches on behalf of the host and organizer. Pan Guangwei pointed out that the banking industry should start to promote low-carbon transformation by clarifying low-carbon development strategies, exploring innovations for green product and service, establishing and improving the "carbon risk control" system, promoting the building of carbon emission data information system, and building climate-friendly banks. Liu Qingchuan stated that, as leading investment bank in China, CICC has made a lot of efforts in exploring ways to achieve carbon neutrality. In the future, CICC will continue to tap into its advantages in order to realize green and low-carbon transformation in areas such as product innovation and industry research.

Experts from ICBC, CDB, CICC and Ernst & Young were also invited to the seminar. They delivered speeches centering on the environment and climate risk management in banks, the development of green credits and green bond market and the impact as well as opportunities on financial institutions brought by carbon neutrality. Yin Hong, Deputy Dean of ICBC Institute of Modern Finance Research discussed environmental and climate risks with the topic of "Environmental and Climate Risk Analysis in Commercial Banks" and introduced the banking industry's leading practices in environmental and climate risk management. Wang Xiwu, Vice President of the Business Department III of China Development Bank, introduced the experience and suggestions of CDB in green finance around the topic of "Serving the National Strategy and Boosting Green Development". Zhang Shuaishuai, Chief Analyst of the banking industry of CICC Research Department, discussed the roadmap and policy recommendations for building green banks; Zhu Jingyan, Executive Manager of CICC Investment Banking Department, analyzed around the layout and cutting-edge dynamics of both onshore and offshore green bond markets, the positive influence of financial institutions' participation in green debt financing and the efforts for boosting green credit businesses. Finally, Li Jing, Partner of Finance Servicing Climate Change and Sustainability of EY Greater China gave a keynote speech on the topic of "Opportunities and Impact of Carbon Neutrality on Financial Institutions".

As leading investment bank in China and an important member of China Banking Association, CICC holds the concept of "Chinese Roots, International Reach" to have another cooperation with China Banking Association and bank financial institutions through successfully co-hosting this seminar. This cooperation is aiming at boosting the development of onshore capital market and accelerating China's green and low-carbon transformation and it is also a demonstration of CICC's business advantages and leading role in debt capital operation and green debt financing among financial institutions.