In order to support financial institutions and real economy sectors to achieve their development goals of a green and low-carbon transition path and to facilitate climate-resilient investment and financing in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement, there is a growing need for local enterprises and financial institutions in Chinese cities to improve their understanding of the international policy framework for carbon accounting and to strengthen their capacity to conduct carbon emission accounting and sustainability information disclosure, especially for regions with international trade links. In this context, the government of Huzhou, one of the first national pilots for promoting the green finance reform, transition finance practices and financial innovation for science and technology, is committed to establishing a green finance development strategy and has taken various measures to implement this strategy.
Photo Credit: Huzhou government
To this end, the Huzhou government and the IKI-funded project “Sino-German Cooperation on Climate Change- NDC Implementation” jointly organized the Sino-German Exchange Meeting on Carbon Accounting and Carbon Footprint in Huzhou on the afternoon of 22 May. Qi Lan, Co-Team Lead of the GIZ East Asia Climate Team and Project Director of the Sustainable Finance Project, attended the meeting and gave an opening speech. The meeting was attended by representatives from the Huzhou Municipal Government Office, the People’s Bank of China Huzhou Branch, the Huzhou Supervision and Administration Bureau as well as representatives from the city’s key enterprises involved in international trade such as JiuLi Special Materials, YongYi Home Furnishing, HengLin Outdoor Equipments, Taipusen Holding, NuoLi Stock and banking institutions.
Photo Credit: Huzhou government
During the meeting, German experts on EU carbon accounting, Andreas Wehrl from TheClimateDesk TCD Consulting and Philipp Geres from FutureCamp Climate, gave a presentation on ‘Carbon Accounting Framework in the European Union’, introducing relevant regulatory frameworks, policies and methodologies of the EU carbon accounting and sustainability information disclosure, such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). In the interactive session, the experts also answered all the technical questions on how to conduct carbon accounting, ESG disclosure and sustainability due diligence that the participating companies face in China-EU trade.
The exchange meeting was conducted in an informative and interactive way, which effectively strengthened the competence of local enterprises and financial institutions in cutting-edge areas such as sustainability disclosure and provided guidance for Huzhou enterprises to accelerate the establishment of a sustainable supply chain management system. As a next step, Huzhou plans to continue on the path of green finance reform and to continuously deepen the close cooperation between the government, financial institutions and enterprises, to strengthen the competence of trading companies on carbon emission accounting and ESG information disclosure.
