On March 6, the 2019 annual conference of the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) was held in London, and participants conducted in-depth discussions on expanding the scale of green bonds and promoting the development of green finance market. As a participator in the formulation of China’s green bonds standards, CECEP Consulting Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “CECEP Consulting”), a subsidiary of China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group (CECEP), was invited to attend the conference.

Despite the fact that the size of green bonds market in 2018 was not as big as expected, attendees still showed great confidence about the future development of the market, thanks to the release of China’s Catalogue for the Guidance of Green Industries and the formulation of the EU plan for the classification system of sustainable financial activities. They also demonstrated tremendous interest in the progress and integration of international green industries classification systems. Liao Yuan, general manager of CECEP Consulting, was invited to give a speech at a roundtable discussion of the conference, during which he responded to attendees’ concern on the classification of green industries together with experts from the EU Sustainable Financial Technology Experts’ Group and experts in ISO green bonds standards.

Liao noted that despite the multiple challenges faced by China’s green bonds market, with the promulgation of its Catalogue for the Guidance of Green Industries, a consensus has been reached on green bonds standards in China, which sent a clear, positive policy signal to the market. He also discussed with attendees on how to balance mitigation projects and adaptation projects in the classification of green industries and how to dock existing green standards with the classification of green industries.