‘Need to know carbon footprints of financial assets’

BEIJING: The third plenary meeting of the Green Investment Principles (GIP) for Belt and Road (B&R) identified specific areas requiring greater efforts, including the disclosures of financial institutions’ exposures to carbon-intensive assets and carbon footprints of financial assets.

More than 170 representatives from over 50 global financial institutions and organisations participated in person or virtually.

In 2021, the GIP Secretariat has extended its service to more regions along the B&R by launching a regional office in Central Asia, chaired by Yaseen Anwar, the former governor of the central bank of Pakistan, with support from the AIFC Green Finance Centre.

“The Belt Road Initiative (BRI) is vital for global economic growth. The GIP, in harmony with Paris Climate Accord and United Nations ESG guidelines, adds enormous credence to BRI's mandate in converging its own objectives with BRI globally towards a viable Green Finance Ecosystem for the long-term betterment of a carbon-neutral world,” said Anwar in his opening remarks.

Since 2018, the GIP membership has expanded to 40 signatories and 12 supporters from 15 countries and regions along the B&R. These signatories currently hold or manage $49 trillion in total assets, accounting for the largest source of private capital invested in developing countries.

During the past 12 months, member-led working groups have successfully hosted four capacity-building events and developed many tools and casebooks, including casebooks on best practices, an online toolbox for risk assessment, and a green project database.

“Green and openness remain essential elements of the BRI, where the GIP can play a stronger role, including by encouraging adoption of international standards in sustainability, or China’s own standards, in the case where local standards are too low or not in place,” said Deputy Governor Chen Yulu of the People’s Bank of China in his keynote speech.