Deep Dive

11 Aug INSIGHTS | Internal Carbon Price: an Innovative Strategy for Sustainable Growth

Posted at 14:38 by Helena Zhu

An internal carbon price is an instrument used by entities such as companies and financial institutions to incentivize climate action by assigning monetary value to carbon emissions. The financial cost of carbon emissions is often invisible yet substantial. Nations are beginning to factor the social...

04 Aug INSIGHTS | China Green Bond Principles: Unified Criteria for the Domestic Market

Posted at 16:50 by Tina Zhang

The China Green Bond Principles (the Principles) is a framework for Chinese green bond issuers to follow best practices in the domestic market. Since 2015, China’s green bond market has expanded rapidly. In 1H22 alone, China issued RMB400.6bn (USD59.4bn) of green bonds and green asset-backed...

21 Jul INSIGHTS | ESG Disclosure for Taiwan-listed Companies

Posted at 15:13 by Helena Zhu

Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues are undeniably becoming key components of disclosure for corporates and financial institutes around the world. In Asia, a flurry of ESG-related disclosure rules has hit the market in recent years, driving companies to issue sustainability reports and communicate...

14 Jul INSIGHTS | China’s Green Electricity Market and Certificates, Explained

Posted at 17:22 by Tina Zhang

On May 23, the Beijing Power Exchange Center published new rules for green power trading, in line with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)’s policy on green electricity trading pilots in August 2021. As China is still exploring effective approaches to upgrade its energy...

30 Jun INSIGHTS | Crackdown on Greenwashing by Regulators Has Begun

Posted at 17:07 by Haiyan Luo

The global rise of ESG investments in recent years has brought increasing greenwashing behaviors from investment product providers. Greenwashing is known as a cheating practice in which companies exaggerate their environmentally friendly approaches to gain more benefits. The phenomenon becomes more and more common as...

16 Jun INSIGHTS | Transition Finance: Funding the Green Transformation

Posted at 15:04 by Helena Zhu

Green finance has gained strong momentum in recent years, with cumulative green bond issuance snowballing to USD1.83tr as of June 2022, and ESG- and sustainability-themed financing increasingly available. Yet, a successful and effective economic transition from business-as-usual to sustainable requires investments in undertakings such as...

09 Jun INSIGHTS | How insurance can contribute to a sustainable economy: the case of China [Part 2]

Posted at 17:54 by Tina Zhang

Green insurance is an important component of China’s green finance. Chinese government and regulators have published a series of policies to guide the development of green insurance and build a comprehensive green insurance system. By 2020, the total premium of green insurance in China amounted...

02 Jun INSIGHTS | How insurance can contribute to a sustainable economy: the case of China [Part 1]

Posted at 17:04 by Tina Zhang

China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) recently Releases the Green Finance Guidelines for Banking and Insurance Sectors (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines), which requires banking and insurance institutions to develop green finance, to better assist in pollution prevention and control, and to promote...

26 May INSIGHTS | Tesla’s Removal from S&P 500’s ESG Index Causes Debate on ESG Ratings

Posted at 16:54 by Haiyan Luo

Electric carmaker Tesla Inc [TSLA:US] was dumped by S&P 500 from its ESG Index in an annual rebalancing of the index. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was angered by the decision of the index, saying that S&P Global Ratings has “lost their integrity.” Tesla’s stock fell...

19 May INSIGHTS | SEC Climate Disclosure Proposal: A Step Towards Mandatory Climate Disclosure in the United States

Posted at 15:08 by Helena Zhu

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its long-anticipated proposal for climate-related financial disclosure in March 2022. The proposal is historic as it marks the first effort by any US financial regulator to standardize climate-related disclosure. Back in June 2021, the finance ministers and...

28 Apr INSIGHTS | China’s First ESG Disclosure Guidance

Posted at 14:22 by Helena Zhu

As more enterprises around the world adopt ESG standards for non-financial information disclosure, Chinese enterprises face a pressing need to catch up as they compete in markets with rising demand for quality ESG data. Many globally recognized and most prevalent standards, such as the GRI...

21 Apr INSIGHTS | Signals from the CSRC: What’s Next in China’s ESG Journey?

Posted at 17:47 by Haiyan Luo

CSR strategy - ESG reporting and transparency...

14 Apr INSIGHTS | EU’s Two Big Moves to Improve SFDR Standards

Posted at 15:09 by Tina Zhang

The European Union (EU) has entered the second year of implementing the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), a part of a legislative package on sustainable finance. The measures also include the Regulation (EU) 2020/852 (Taxonomy Regulation, hereinafter referred to as “TR”). In order to provide...

07 Apr INSIGHTS | ISSB Releases Proposals to Create a Global Baseline of Sustainability and Climate Disclosure

Posted at 16:11 by Haiyan Luo

The International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation (IFRS) announced on March 31 that the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) released its first exposure drafts of proposed standards of company sustainability and climate-related disclosures. The new standards will become a comprehensive global baseline, assisting the capital market...

31 Mar INSIGHTS | How China is Leveraging Blue Carbon for a Net-Zero Future [Part.2]

Posted at 10:29 by Tina Zhang

Part I of this article has introduced the concept of “blue carbon”, its application in China, and China’s policy rollout that enabled the establishment of the international carbon trading center (the Center) in Hainan. This part is going to discuss international blue carbon trading regulations...