The 2021 International Green Finance Conference was held in Beijing on December 3. The world’s leading experts in sustainable finance were invited to introduce the best ESG practices of global important financial institutions, based on the G20 consensus on sustainable finance development. During the conference, Zhang Fang, Head of the ESG Center at the Beijing Institute of Finance and Sustainability (IFS), released the report titled " ESG in Banking: Case Studies and Development Recommendations" (hereafter as "the report") on behalf of the joint research team. The joint research team consisted of green finance experts from IFS, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, Huzhou Bank, Bank of China Zhejiang Branch, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Huzhou Branch.

On the basis of in-depth research on domestic situations and innovative experiences, this study fully draws on international best practices and considers the development directions proposed by international policy coordination agencies such as G20 and NGFS, which has strong foresight and guidance.

This study focuses on the impact of carbon neutrality on the macro economy, the industrial technology path and financing needs to achieve carbon neutrality, the development opportunities that carbon neutrality brings to the financial industry, the risks faced by the financial industry under the background of carbon neutrality, and how to improve the green finance policy system with carbon neutrality as the goal. It provides many reference cases and analysis methods at home and abroad, And suggestions were made for financial institutions and regulatory authorities.

This study estimates the industrial growth expectation and carbon emission for Belt and Road countries (B&R countries). The results indicate that, given the historical patterns of development and investment, as well as the growth forecast unchanged, the carbon emission of major B&R countries would exceed the 2 Degree Scenario (2DS), the Paris Agreement’s global warming limit. Even if all the other countries could follow the 2DS path, there could be a 3 degrees Celsius rise of warming pathway in global temperature by 2050. Thus, it should be emphasized in B&R countries that, green finance, and low-carbon investment are the keys to transforming to the sustainable development mode and meeting the global climate goal in Paris Agreement.

The report by analyzing China's policies in promoting the development of green economy and green technology innovation, this study proposes that to solve a series of financing problems faced by green technology development, it is necessary to build a financial service system that effectively supports green technology enterprises and makes recommendations on this framework.

The "2050 Beautiful Chongqing Vision: Carbon neutrality roadmap and green finance agenda for Chongqing" research shows that Chongqing has the conditions to peak carbon emissions around 2028, reach near-zero emissions in 2050 (more than 85% lower than 2020 carbon emissions), and has the potential to take the lead in achieving carbon neutrality in China before 2060 .

Based on the research results of the G20 Green Finance Research Group and the NGFS on environmental risk analysis, this study provides a comprehensive introduction to this topic and discusses the challenges faced by environmental risk analysis and options for overcoming them.

Based on the strategic positioning of urban sub-centers, this study discusses the advantages of urban sub-centers in creating leading zero-carbon parks and puts forward relevant suggestions by combing through domestic and foreign zero-carbon park cases.

Based on the dependence of economic activities and the financial sector on ecosystems, as well as the negative impact of financial investment activities on the exacerbation of degradation of natural systems, this study proposes that central banks and regulators should take measures to help address biodiversity loss, building on existing responsibilities.

Based on the analysis of a series of innovation cases, this report discusses in depth how fintech can promote business model innovation and support green finance to serve sustainable development more efficiently and puts forward a series of suggestions.

Taking the aquaculture industry as an example, the center discusses the challenges and opportunities of scientific and technological innovation in the construction of blue economy from the perspective of domestic and foreign blue economy policies.

This report summarizes the challenges and opportunities faced by China in achieving its carbon neutrality goal, and provides some reference and reference for investment institutions, entrepreneurs, and industries to cope with the coming global low-carbon transformation tide.