On March 26, 2024, the Capacity-building Alliance of Sustainable Investment (CASI) organized its second monthly seminar on “Accelerating Capacity-Building for Financing Net Zero, Nature Positive Cities”, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum (WEF). The event took place both online and offline in Hong Kong, with over 50 industry experts in attendance and garnered over 515 livestream views.

This seminar focused on four main themes: policy frameworks, green financial products, incentive mechanisms, and urban green investment projects. It extensively discussed the challenges and opportunities in developing green investment and financing, as well as how Asia can further leverage multi-stakeholder cooperation in the climate investment and financing domain.

During the welcome introduction, Gim Huay Neo, Managing Director, World Economic Forum, expressed excitement about collaborating with the Institute of Finance and Sustainability (IFS) to continue driving the CASI initiative forward. She emphasized the importance and urgency of capacity building in sustainable finance to drive transformations in industries such as energy and agriculture.

In the keynote speech, Dr Ma Jun, Chairman of CASI and President of IFS, introduced CASI’s mission as an international cooperation platform to provide higher-quality and impactful sustainable finance capacity building services to developing countries. He underscored the staggering global need of USD 4-6 trillion to advance low-carbon transitions, particularly acute in developing countries, where the lack of capacity in sustainable finance poses a fundamental obstacle. To address this challenge, CASI, as a global aggregator and distributor of sustainable finance knowledge, is dedicated to delivering sustainable finance capacity building services in various formats, including monthly seminars, with the ambition of training 100,000 individuals by 2030. Since its official launch during COP28 in Dubai, 50 Chinese and global leading institutions in sustainable finance have joined CASI as members. 

Dr Ma also shared with the audience that CASI’s inaugural major in-person event will be held in São Paulo, Brazil, from April 3rd to 5th, attracting stakeholders from across the Latin American region. Looking ahead to 2024, CASI plans to organize a series of exciting offline capacity building events in Hong Kong, the Middle East, and Africa. In addition, CASI will continue to hold monthly seminars to contribute to the enhancement of global sustainable financial exchange and cooperation.

Over the following 45 minutes, participants engaged in lively open discussions and panel discussions, delving into key areas of capacity building, major challenges, and strategies. For those interested in the insightful discussions, the video replay is available on the official website: https://www.confbus.com/IFS/live/3.html