The big environmental stories in the Chinese media this week (24-30 July)
Jin Liqun was re-elected as president of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) at its fifth annual general meeting on Wednesday. He commented that the AIIB will work towards post-Covid economic recovery in its member countries, and highlighted the importance of climate and sustainability in development plans.
“This pandemic has placed huge pressure on AIIB members, particularly lower-income countries and the most vulnerable... Unless effective measures are taken to reverse this trend, we will suffer the loss of a generation. We will not allow such a disaster to befall our people and future generations.”
“As we look forward to the next decade, we will expand our investments from core infrastructure to the infrastructure for tomorrow – infrastructure that will tackle climate change, enhance connectivity within Asia and the rest of the world.”
President Xi Jinping echoed Mr Jin’s comments in an opening address to the AGM.
NGOs however have called out the AIIB for failing to follow through on green promises made since the bank’s establishment in 2015. A “scorecard” released on Wednesday by NGO Re-Course noted that the bank does not yet have a climate strategy or action plan. Nor does it measure investments’ climate emissions or have any target to reduce them. To date, the bank’s energy sector investments portfolio is 54% dominated by fossil fuels, all of which are gas projects, with only 24% of investments in renewables. Energy investments represent about 20% of the AIIB’s total portfolio, according to the scorecard.
More promises were made at the AGM though. In an interview with CGTN, principal investment officer Stefen Shin commented that the bank is running an Asia Climate Bond Portfolio project. It will promote climate finance and planning to invest in up to 50 “climate champion” bonds in member countries, intended to align with climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience objectives.
Read more about the AIIB’s strained green credentials on China Dialogue here
“This pandemic has placed huge pressure on AIIB members, particularly lower-income countries and the most vulnerable... Unless effective measures are taken to reverse this trend, we will suffer the loss of a generation. We will not allow such a disaster to befall our people and future generations.”
“As we look forward to the next decade, we will expand our investments from core infrastructure to the infrastructure for tomorrow – infrastructure that will tackle climate change, enhance connectivity within Asia and the rest of the world.”
President Xi Jinping echoed Mr Jin’s comments in an opening address to the AGM.
NGOs however have called out the AIIB for failing to follow through on green promises made since the bank’s establishment in 2015. A “scorecard” released on Wednesday by NGO Re-Course noted that the bank does not yet have a climate strategy or action plan. Nor does it measure investments’ climate emissions or have any target to reduce them. To date, the bank’s energy sector investments portfolio is 54% dominated by fossil fuels, all of which are gas projects, with only 24% of investments in renewables. Energy investments represent about 20% of the AIIB’s total portfolio, according to the scorecard.
More promises were made at the AGM though. In an interview with CGTN, principal investment officer Stefen Shin commented that the bank is running an Asia Climate Bond Portfolio project. It will promote climate finance and planning to invest in up to 50 “climate champion” bonds in member countries, intended to align with climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience objectives.
Read more about the AIIB’s strained green credentials on China Dialogue here
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