G20 to push forward green finance, economies

G20 Summit

G20 to push forward green finance, economies

As this year’s host for G20 summit, China has included “green finance” as a discussion topic at the summit.

Ma Jun is the chairman of Green Finance Committee and has led China’s task force on green finance since 2014. CCTV’s Hou Na spoke to Ma about green finance and its future in China.

Green finance is probably a concept not familiar to most people. “Green finance refers to financing of investment activities that deliver environmental benefits,” Ma explained.

Ma is also the chief economist at China’s central bank, PBOC. When China decided it would be a major topic of discussion at this year’s G20 summit, Ma was invited to be part of the G20 Green Finance Study Group, GFSG, which was established after China took over the presidency of the summit last year.

Given the massive demand for green investment, which could be a multi-trillion-dollar-a-year industry globally, there are now many opportunities to finance it.

However, experts said the key now is to identify and overcome the challenges which could impede its development.

GFSG has put forward a number of recommendations for the G20 summit on how to create an environment to mobilize private capital for green investment. One of them is to facilitate cross-border investment in green bonds, where proceeds would fund environment-friendly projects.