Deep Dive

24 Mar INSIGHTS | How China is Leveraging Blue Carbon for a Net-Zero Future [Part.1]

Posted at 16:52 by Tina Zhang

According to the officials of the Hainan provincial government, the Hainan International Carbon Emission Trading Center (the Hainan Center) has been approved to set up in the Free Trade Port in Sanya. The Center is scheduled to start operation in 2H22 and will provide a...

17 Mar INSIGHTS | Europe’s CBAM and its Impact on China

Posted at 16:53 by Haiyan Luo

On March 15, 2022, the European Council reached an agreement on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) regulation. The mechanism stipulates that the EU will levy taxes on cement, aluminum, fertilizer, iron and steel, and other products imported from countries and regions with relatively loose...

10 Mar INSIGHTS | Time to Adapt: Financing for a Warming World

Posted at 16:15 by Helena Zhu

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s leading authority on climate science, released the “Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability Report” (WG2 report) on February 27, 2022, as the second part of its sixth assessment report (AR6). The 3675-page report summarized the...

03 Mar INSIGHTS | Shanghai Stock Exchange Releases its Low-Carbon Action Plan during the 14th FYP

Posted at 17:43 by Tina Zhang

On March 1, the Shanghai Stock Exchange published an official document titled the Programme of Action on Carbon Neutrality and Action during the "14th Five-Year Plan" (the Programme of Action). To align with China’s “30-60” Decarbonization Goals, the Programme of Action proposed six main initiatives...

24 Feb INSIGHT | Sustainability at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

Posted at 17:38 by Haiyan Luo

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics event has ended in success. What was amazing about this Winter Olympics was not only the high level of event management but also its practices and breakthroughs in sustainability. The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympics and Paralympic Winter...

17 Feb INSIGHTS | Climate Risk Stress Testing in the Banking Industry

Posted at 15:40 by Helena Zhu

Stress testing is not an unfamiliar term to the financial sector. Ever since the global financial crisis, financial institutions have used stress tests as a key tool for assessing risks and resiliency of the financial system as well as individual institutions. With climate change increasingly...

10 Feb Overview of SFDR Updates: Regulatory Technical Standards

Posted at 17:40 by Tina Zhang

The European Union’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) is established to facilitate ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) investing as it has become the mainstream of the world of finance and investing. According to Bloomberg’s analysis, the global sustainable financial assets under management (AUM) reached USD37.8tr by...

27 Jan Shanghai Stock Exchange Asks its Tech Market to Disclose ESG Information

Posted at 17:54 by Haiyan Luo

The Shanghai Stock Exchange has announced on January 20 that it will ask the Science and Technology Innovation Board (STAR) market companies to disclose ESG information in annual reports beginning in 2022. As China has pledged to hit peak carbon emission before 2030 and achieve...

13 Jan Kickstarting Product Carbon Footprinting in China

Posted at 16:20 by Helena Zhu

On January 5, the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning (CAEP) released the China Products Carbon Footprint Factors Database (中国产品全生命周期温室气体排放系数集), the first open, transparent, and continuously updated product carbon footprinting (PCF) emission factor database in China. The development of this database involved voluntary contributions from 54...

30 Dec Net-Zero for Chinese Tech: A Quick Look at Alibaba’s Carbon Neutrality Plan

Posted at 18:04 by Haiyan Luo

Alibaba Group [BABA:US], a Chinese e-commerce giant and one of the largest tech companies in the world, pledged to achieve carbon neutrality in its operations and reduce emissions across its supply chains and transportation networks by 2030. The commitment comes from its 2021 Carbon Neutrality...

16 Dec Tackling the Other Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Methane

Posted at 14:25 by Helena Zhu

The conversation around decarbonization and climate change mitigation has long been dominated by the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2), the most common greenhouse gas. However, during this year’s United Nations climate summit COP26, methane as another form of greenhouse gas rose to the spotlight in...

09 Dec New SBTi Guidance for Private Equity Firm to Approach to Net-zero

Posted at 17:29 by Tina Zhang

Development of SBTi in the Financial Sector The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) regards the financial sector as a crucial part in promoting the global decarbonatization and green economy transition. Through lending and investing, they have the power to reallocate resources to sustainable solutions and the...

02 Dec ISSB: IFRS Foundation’s Ambition towards Global Sustainability Reporting Baseline

Posted at 14:00 by Una Qu

The IFRS Foundation, which is a not-for-profit and public interest organization well-known for its International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), announced three significant developments regarding sustainability-related reporting on November 3 at the COP26. Set up a new International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).Consolidate with the Value Reporting Foundation...

25 Nov Responsible Investment: How Real Estate Investors Manage ESG Issues

Posted at 17:10 by Haiyan Luo

Transition to net-zero carbon and climate resilience has already become mainstream for all sectors in the world. As for the real estate industry, buildings account for nearly 40% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, 50% of the world’s energy consumption, and 40% of raw materials...