GIP puts forward vision for making first TCFD disclosures by 2023

BEIJING: The Green Investment Principles for the Belt and Road (GIP) has put forward a three-year plan called Vision 2023 at its second plenary meeting based on its inaugural Annual Progress Report.

The meeting in Beijing was attended by over 130 representatives from more than 40 global financial institutions and international organisations both virtually and in person. The vision’s focus areas have been set out under five key pillars - assess, disclose, commit, invest, and grow.

The report gave particular emphasis to climate and environment-related governance and strategy, assessment and management of sustainability risks, greening of investment portfolios, and consistent approach to disclosures, noting that further efforts were needed to address challenges such as varying levels of implementation capacity.

Expectations under the vision include for all members to have made their first Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) by 2023.

Dr Ma Jun, co-Chair of the GIP Steering Committee and Chairman of Green Finance Committee of China Society for Finance and Banking, said, “Facing the COVID challenge and the opportunity brought about by increasing numbers of carbon neutrality pledges by countries, GIP members will have a greater role to play in financing green investments in B&R regions and contributing more significantly to the sustainable development goals.”

The GIP has made important progress in the past year by expanding its membership, enhancing capacity for disclosure, risk management and product innovation, and raising awareness of the importance of sustainability factors in governance.

In the past year, the GIP expanded its membership to 37 signatories and 12 supporters from 14 countries and regions around the world.

The GIP working groups organised four capacity-building webinars, developed an online tool to measure project carbon emissions, and launched a climate and environmental information disclosure framework for GIP signatories, which was aligned with the TCFD recommendations.

Sir Roger Gifford, co-Chair of the GIP Steering Committee and Chairman of UK Green Finance Institute, said that through the GIP, investors from China, the UK, and many other countries were taking critical steps to ensure every financial decision they made took climate change into account.

“Ahead of COP26 (2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference), we must increase our resolve towards continued progress: supporting more signatories to increase their green investments and make robust disclosures in line with TCFD,” he added.

Winners of a set of GIP awards were also announced at the meeting. Three signatories were nominated for each award category. Standard Chartered Bank received the Best GIP Implementation Award and Silk Road Fund received the Best GIP Green Finance Transaction Award.

The Secretariat, together with signatories that co-chair the thematic working groups, reported the progress made in the past year and outlined working plans for the year ahead under Vision 2023.

It was said that the GIP would continue to foster green investment in the Belt and Road region through awareness raising and capacity building in environmental risk management, disclosure, and green financial product innovation among its members.

The GIP would adopt a renewed focus on capital mobilisation, driving new green investment flows through regional engagement platforms.

This regional approach emphasises the opportunity for emerging market financial institutions to engage more broadly and deeply with decarbonisation and green investment opportunities in BRI regions.