Co-sponsored by WRI and the Global Environmental Institute.
As South-South flows become more dominant in international finance, what is the projected growth of China’s investments abroad? How will environmental standards be set and applied to these investments?
The Global Environmental Institute’s new book entitled Environmental Policies on China’s Investment Overseas examines the political and economic contexts in which China’s overseas investments operate. The publication also proposes guidelines on responsible overseas investments for Chinese enterprises. Following the book launch, a discussion will take place to encourage a dialogue among Chinese, U.S. and international policymakers and stakeholders on China’s green credit policy.
World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global environmental think tank that goes beyond research to put ideas into action. For over a decade, WRI’s International Financial Flows and the Environment Objective (IFFE) has sought to improve the environmental, social, and climate change performance of the investments of traditional financial institutions such as the World Bank, because these institutions set the norms for foreign investments worldwide. But the landscape is changing, and nationally owned financial institutions in emerging economies, such as China and Brazil, are increasingly active in development finance. As a result, WRI began a project in 2010 to strengthen the environmental and social standards of overseas investments by these “emerging actors’” in development finance.
Global Environmental Institute (GEI) is a Chinese non-profit, nongovernmental organization that was established in Beijing, China in 2004. GEI’s Environmental Governance Program develops a framework for socially and ecologically-sound development policy in rural, urban and industrial sectors. The GEI Environmental Governance team’s approach involves developing environmental curricula for government leaders, facilitating outreach and roundtable discussions on climate change, and collaborating with the Chinese government and financial sector to promote responsible stewardship by Chinese enterprises operating overseas and to regulate the Chinese overseas investment with social and environmental standards.