Global banks meet for first Green Investment Principles meeting

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The City of London Corporation brought together some of the world’s biggest banks in Beijing to discuss the implementation of Green Investment Principles (GIPs) for the Belt and Road, announced in London in November last year.

The Bank of China, Standard Chartered, HSBC, China Development Bank and more than 20 other banks and financial institutions are among the signatories and were among those in attendance, which saw all signatories and supporters share knowledge on green investment and best practices.

The GIPs were launched at the Belt and Road Forum in April, with the overall aim of factoring environmental risk and climate resilience into infrastructure projects.

They were welcomed by the UK and Chinese governments in the policy outcome paper at the 10th UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue. This came as a result of work delivered by the UK-China Green Finance Centre, supported by the Green Finance Institute and China’s Green Finance Committee.

Sir Roger Gifford, chair of the Green Finance Institute and co-chair of the UK-China Green Finance Centre, said: “With the collaboration of our Chinese partners through the UK-China Green Finance Centre, we are playing a fundamental role in ensuring that one of the biggest infrastructure projects in history incorporates low-carbon and sustainable development.”