In terms of finance, investment refers to the “buy-side” while financing refers to the “sell-side”. No matter Green Finance or Green Investment, “green” is the key. To determine whether a development is green, there are two international assessment standards, namely the Green Bond Principles of International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and the Climate Bonds Standard of Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI).

A set of localized standards is also available in Mainland China. As overseen by the major department such as the People’s Bank of China and China Securities Regulatory Commission, the Green Bonds Standard Committee released the “Green Bond Assessment and Verification Guidelines (Provisional)” and the operation guidelines stipulating required qualifications and credentials, verification methods, and reporting requirements. 

Learn more from the full article (in Chinese only) written by Kenny Siu, Senior Advisor of AEC Group, published on Sing Pao on 20 December.