NRDC organized the 2nd International Forum on Climate Friendly Banking on November 27 with Climate Investment and Finance Association (CIFA) and other partners with support from the Department of Climate Change of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE). The forum aimed to foster a climate-friendly transition of commercial banks to support the carbon peaking and neutrality goals. Li Gao, the Director of the Department of Climate Change under MEE, and Yang Pin, a Division Chief of the Research Bureau from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), delivered keynote speeches regarding the international and domestic policy landscape for encouraging climate finance. More than 10 domestic and foreign banks shared their progress and innovative practices for enhancing climate and ESG management and expanding climate investment and finance. 

To accelerate climate-friendly transition of commercial banks, NRDC is also working with partners from top think tanks to conduct research in providing methodologies or instruments to improve the climate risk management ability of financial institutions. With NRDC’s support, the Postal Savings Bank of China, one of the top six commercial banks in China, is propelling its strategy of a climate-friendly bank. 

Among all the issues driving financial institutions’ climate-friendly transition, climate risk is a major one. To improve climate risk assessment and stress testing methodology, NRDC organized a workshop earlier in the month with the International Institute of Green Finance of the Central University of Finance and Economics (IIGF) and discussed our research findings with policymakers and experts from both financial and energy sectors.