The Institute of Finance and Sustainability

The Institute of Finance and Sustainability (IFS)

IFS provides policy, market, and product research and an international cooperation platform for green finance and sustainable development in China and globally. IFS is committed to becoming a non-profit think tank with global influence in the fields of green finance, natural capital financing, low-carbon development, and energy transition by making substantial contributions to the issues of global environment and climate change.

Background

IFS was initiated by Dr. Ma Jun. Dr. Ma is the Director of the Green Finance Committee, Co-Chair of the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group, Member of the National Ecological and Environmental Protection Expert Committee. He also serves as the Co-Chair of the Steering Committee of Green Investment Principles (GIP) for the Belt and Road, Co-Chair of the Sustainable Finance Standards Working Group of the International Platform on Sustainable Finance (IPSF), as well as Chairman of the Beijing Green Finance Association. Previously, he has worked as the Chief Economist of the Research Bureau of the People's Bank of China, Member of the Monetary Policy Committee, and Chair of the NGFS Supervision Workstream. The establishment of the Institute has received strong support from financial regulators, the Beijing Government, as well as many financial institutions and partners. IFS is supervised by the Beijing Financial Work Bureau.

Area of Focus

IFS provides policy research and planning on green finance and low-carbon development for central and local governments, countries along the Belt and Road Initiative, and international organizations. It develops green finance products, methods and analytical tools for financial institutions to serve environmental improvement and low-carbon development. It provides support for the GIP Secretariat Beijing Office and its Steering Committee, NGFS, IPSF, as well as the China-UK, China-France, and China-Europe cooperation on green finance. It provides capacity-building and a communication platform for financial regulators and institutions from developing countries. IFS also manages the Green Technology Research and Investment Promotion Center together with Carbon Trust (UK). It also provides intellectual support and international resources for Beijing to build an international green financial center. Meanwhile, it assists the financial regulators and the Beijing government to organize international conferences and exchange activities on green finance.

Research Center for International Cooperation

GIP Secretariat Beijing Office

The Research Center for International Cooperation provides support for the GIP Secretariat Beijing Office, the Steering Committee, and its working groups. It also supports the development of the green project library, promotes GIP signatories to strengthen environmental and climate information disclosure, environmental impact assessment, and green financial product innovation. The center will help with the construction of green finance capacity for regulatory agencies and major financial, research, and third-party service institutions in China and other developing countries, especially in countries along the Belt and Road Initiative. Moreover, it develops learning tools and products to promote knowledge sharing and it collaborates with other institutions to carry out research on green finance.

Asia Task Force for Financial Center for Sustainability （FC4S）

FC4S is a collaborative network of financial centers around the world which has as its aim the facilitation of experience exchange and cooperation and to accelerate the global development of green and sustainable finance with pragmatic actions. Already more than 36 cities around the world have joined the network and the daily work is supported by UNDP and UNEP. The global secretariat of FC4S is based in Geneva, Switzerland. The online cooperation project between IFS and FC4S will be responsible for implementing the proposed green finance promotion in Asia, as well as related advisory and capacity-building activities.

ESG Investment Research Center

The ESG Investment Research Center is committed to researching and promoting ESG concepts, methods, and tools, and assisting funds, banks and insurance institutions in developing ESG products and analysis tools. The Center provides ESG scores and scoring criteria of listed companies based on ESG data of listed companies and debt-issuing companies. The Center also scores debt-issuing companies, depth analysis reports for corporates, and ESG performance of investment portfolios. It also provides automatic tracking on public opinion of ESG events, ESG index product design, and advice on ESG information disclosures. The Center plans to form an ESG investor alliance, providing a platform for the exchange and promotion of ESG methods and tools. The Center continues to conduct green finance policy research, green industry research, and support local governments in green finance reform, green financial institution construction, as well as product innovation.

Centre for Financing Natural-based Solution

The Center for Financing Natural-based Solution conducts cutting-edge research and decision-making consulting services related to natural capital investment and financing, leveraging social capital to invest in ecological management, restoration and conservation, as well as promotion of natural capital appreciation, including biodiversity investment, green rural construction, and blue finance. The Center has carried out various projects in cooperation with government, domestic and foreign research organizations, and investment institutions, such as sustainable forestry management and financing mechanism design for sustainable soybean and livestock investment in Brazil; cross-regional ecological compensation for ecological conservation; natural carbon sink project development and design for a regional ecological quota market trading mechanism.

Greentech Innovation and Investment Gateway

The Greentech Innovation and Investment Gateway was initiated by IFS and Carbon Trust (UK). According to the requirements of the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue and the Beijing-London Memorandum of Cooperation, the center will develop an international green technology project library, promote green technology projects to investment institutions and enterprises, conduct research on industry trends in the fields of clean energy, energy-saving technology, energy storage technology, and solid waste technology. It will provide support for the decision-making of green technology investment institutions and international green technology cooperation, and provide consulting services for green technology projects.

Climate and Energy Research Center

The Climate and Energy Research Center focuses on conducting research on energy and climate change actions and assists policymakers in formulating implementable and investable low-carbon development plans by using a low-carbon action database and system analysis tools. Their research areas include international climate strategy tracking, green development policies and practices, clean energy and green finance optimization, as well as regional low-carbon development actions. Several recent tasks led by the Center include designing carbon peaking and carbon neutrality pathways for local governments, as well as green finance roadmaps that support this goal; developing low-carbon transition plans for regions that are highly dependent on coal-related industries; and advising on the planning of zero-carbon demonstration parks for local governments.