Participants Call for More Efficient China-US Communication Mechanisms to Tackle Climate Change Together at International Financial Forum (IFF)

BEIJING, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Financial Forum (IFF) roundtable conference on China-US green cooperation held on May 29 gathered world leaders of politics, finance, business and academia under the same roof to discuss opportunities for China and the United States including greater synergy in tackling climate change as well as other key issues related to global sustainable development.

Climate change is a global emergency that goes beyond national borders. Since the Paris Climate Accord that charted a new course in the combat against climate change, global governments and businesses across all sectors have ramped up efforts to seek new paths towards a low-carbon economy, with carbon neutrality and green finance now sitting at the center of global sustainable development.

In the context of China's landmark pledge for peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, as well as the US's renewed commitment to the Paris Agreement, all featured guests of the conference believe that China-US cooperation is central to averting global climate crisis. At the conference, speakers called on both countries to strengthen commitments to establish efficient communication mechanisms, facilitate building bilateral cooperation in key climate-related areas, despite stiff competition between the two countries.

When it comes to the technologies and markets related to climate change, Zhu Xian, IFF Vice President, Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, New Development Bank, believes that competition between China and the US is inevitable but the boundary should be clear-cut, saying, "Competition should be fair, transparent and shouldn't undermine global interests. This kind of competition will be welcome."

Professor Robert Engel, Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics, contributed his insight into the risks and challenges that climate change poses on the financial industry by presenting his ground-breaking research model which measures climate risks as systemic risks.

"When we observe most large banks around the world, climate value fluctuations are very large, especially recently. The capital shortfall, from the stress test scenarios that we use to measure systemic risk for the climate, is comparable to that of the capital shortfall derived from a decline in the markets. Consequently, it is a serious issue for financial stability" he said.

In addressing global ESG-related issues, Zhu Guangyao, IFF Vice-chairman, Former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Finance of China, said that the world needs to unify "reliable, comparable and enforceable standards as guidance." As early as 2019, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation has proposed to formulate unified standards connected with climate change and ESG.

As both Chinese and US businesses are steering more efforts towards establishing environmentally friendly ESG, Rick Niu, IFF board member, President of Starr Strategic Holdings, believes that the United States has embraced climate change as a core matter for itself and global affairs, and will continue to be "a constructive stakeholder" in tackling climate change.

Commenting on the future of China-US relations, Greg Gilligan, Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China), said that the cooperation opportunities between the two countries lie in unexplored tech products and services. 

About IFF 

Established in 2003, the IFF is a non-profit and non-governmental unofficial international forum organization. Headquartered in Beijing, it is a high-level dialogue and academic exchange mechanism co-sponsored by business leaders and scholars in the global financial community and academic circles. For more information, please visit: http://www.iff.org.cn/php/list.php?tid=403

Steel Shen
(86)10-5087-3634
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SOURCE International Finance Forum (IFF)