European Association for the Promotion of EU-China Confidence

Problem

The world has recently seen a rise in a worldwide trend to look increasingly inwards. However, global issues such as climate change, peace and inequality require global and multilateral approaches.

Solution

EU-China Trust aims to foster collaboration and cooperation between the EU and China, using sustainable finance as a tool for this in the spirit of common ESG criteria.

About us

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Building a solid foundation for cooperation and alignment between the EU and China in the area of sustainable finance.

The China-Europe Association for the Promotion of Mutual and Sustainable Trust (EU-China Trust) is a non-partisan, non-political and not-for-profit association that was born in Madrid, Spain, with the aim of promoting cooperation between the EU and China on the field of sustainable finance.

The members of the association believe that, beyond political differences and economic disagreements, the EU and China share a profound commitment to tackle climate change through a diverse range of environmentally friendly policies. Both the EU and China have been staunch supporters of the Paris Climate Agreement and are deeply aware of the need to fight for climate change mitigation.

The association is made of a diverse group of members, Europeans and Chinese, that come from both professional and academic backgrounds and share the notion that, differences and political disagreements notwithstanding, only by promoting cooperation between the EU and China in the field of climate change can we hope to address the urgent challenges of our time.

Sustainable finance, greatly promoted by the Paris Climate Agreement, is fundamental to ensure we move towards a climate-resilient development model that fosters sustainable and climate-resilient societies across the globe.

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Both the EU and China have set ambitious goals in the fight against Climate Change. China has set as a goal of having domestic carbon emissions peak before 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060. The EU’s goal is to become carbon neutral by 2050.

In this sense, both the EU and China are aiming to develop green taxonomies and are seeking to push for greater convergence of taxonomies of green finance and investments. These taxonomy efforts are fundamental to prevent greenwashing and help investors make greener choices.

A recent extremely promising initiative is that of the International Platform on Sustainable Finance (IPSF) Taxonomy Working Group, co-chaired by Mr. Marcel Haag of the European Commission and Dr. Ma Jun of People’s Bank of China (PBOC). The IPSF Taxonomy WG has been working to establish a Common Ground Taxonomy (CFT). The CFT is a report resulting from an in-depth comparison exercise that puts forward areas of commonality between the EU and China’s taxonomies. Efforts like this are extremely important and are precisely the types of initiatives that we firmly support at the EU-China Trust. The CFT shows that the EU and China can work together on global issues such as climate change, despite their differences in other areas.

This initiative, spearheaded by the EU and China, also lays a solid foundation for the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group to equally pursue comparability in sustainable finance standards at a global scale.

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A bit of background

10 years ago, the European Investment Bank (EIB) issued the world’s first Climate Awareness Bond (CAB), which became a bedrock in the Green Bonds market. The CAB proceeds have helped finance numerous renewable energy and energy efficiency projects all over the world. And just in 2021 the EU stepped up its efforts with the Next Generation EU green bonds programme. The EU Commission plans to have issued a total of €80 billion to finance the Next Generation EU programme. Furthermore, currently the EU is pursuing to establish an EU Green Bond Standard, an EU Taxonomy and a Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

In July 2021, PBOC published a revised version of China’s Green Bond Catalogue excluding coal-related projects. China’s latest climate policy package, published in late October of that year, highlighted the need to improve further the country’s green finance catalogues. China’s decarbonisation efforts are especially commendable given the traditional reliance of the country on coal as a source of energy. China has even committed to stop funding coal projects in foreign nations as part of its Belt and Road Initiative. China has also increased significantly its green finance policies, as the country accelerates its green transition and economic restructuring to achieve high-quality and sustainable development. PBOC, for instance, launched a carbon emissions reduction facility in November of 2021 to offer low-interest loans to financial institutions that are supporting efforts to reduce carbon emissions. PBOC, furthermore, put forward a series of new measures to assess financial institutions’ performance in developing and promoting green finance. The PBOC recently published the Green Bond Endorsed Projects Catalogue (2021 Edition), done together with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), setting clear standards for domestic green bonds.

The role of the private sector

The private sector has equally a crucial role to play in the pursuit of climate change mitigation. European banks have been both pioneers and champions in the issuance of green bonds and are continuously working to amp up their efforts in this regard. Recent initiatives such as the Climate Change Investment Framework, fruit of the cooperation between Amundi and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), with the endorsement of the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), are perfect examples of the positive role that the private sector can play in the fight against Climate Change.

In China, recently, Ping An, the country’s insurance giant, announced that it would create a China-specific ESG smart rating system to help promote responsible investment in the country. In 2020 Bank of China issued its first Blue Bond, which is also Asia’s first-ever blue bond issue. The Blue Bond amounts to a total of USD 942.50 million and is aligned with the International Capital Market Association (ICMA)’s Green Bond Principles. This set of blue bonds will serve to boost the expansion of marine-related green projects across various domestic and overseas markets including but not limited to offshore renewable energy and wastewater treatment. Therefore, significantly underpinning a sustainable blue economy. These series of blue bonds counted with the support and expertise of European banks such as Credit Agricole or BNP Paribas and are a clear example of the positive role that financial institutions can play in climate action.

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Mission

Climate change threatens the health and livelihoods of people across the globe who suffer from poor air quality, water scarcity and soil contamination. Floods and droughts are often the harsh consequences of man-made Climate Change.

The development of a framework for environmentally friendly investment standards is a key area for both European and Chinese authorities to find common ground and advance what is clearly a mutual cause.

EU-China Trust believes in the need to promote cooperation across both the public and private sectors. Regulators from both the EU and China need to keep working to establish the foundations to pursue a circular economy and promote biodiversity across the globe. Having mutual dialogue and cooperation is essential to achieve these goals.

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This is an equally important effort to be undertaken by private stakeholders in both the EU and China. Both European and Chinese companies must understand the need to fight for green solutions and commit to sustainable practices. Exchanging information and building dialogue between European and Chinese companies is fundamental to achieve effective and rapid success.

The aim of EU-China Trust is not only to encourage the EU and China to do more and faster but to do so while seeking alignment and cooperation, aligning for instance the rules of the road for the global transition to net zero.

Our aim is to foster public debate and discussion between policymakers from both sides so to work together to pursue policies that fulfil the Paris Climate agreement ambitions and attract green capital internationally.

EU-China Trust also aims to bring the private sector onboard, both European and Chinese companies, to promote innovative measures and exchange knowledge and information in the fight against Climate Change.

News and Articles

CHINA AND SPAIN, STRIVING TOGETHER TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY

EU-China Trust has organised an official visit from high level authorities of Hefei to Spain, meeting different key organisations, public administrations and private sector stakeholders with the aim of promoting cooperation in the field of sustainable policies. A high level delegation spearheaded by the Vice-mayor of Hefei, Ms. Ming Zhao, will be visiting Spain…

Webinar “Looking at the current state of affairs of EU-China relations”

Last Wednesday, May 4, our President, @Augusto Soto, and the Head of European Strategy, @Pablo Galvez, of @EU China Trust took part in the online conference titled- “Looking at the current state of affairs of EU-China relations”, organized by @Catedra China. Both of them delved deep into the current state of affairs of the relationship,…

una mirada hacia las relaciones ue china

Looking at the current state of affairs of EU-China relations

This coming Wednesday and Thursday, May 4 and 5, our very own President, Augusto Soto, and the Head of European Strategy, Pablo Galvez, of EU China Trust will be taking part in the online conference titled “Looking at the current state of affairs of EU-China relations”, organised by Catedra China. Both of them will delve…

Mission of EU-Chinatrust organisation

On Tuesday, April 5th, within the cycle of conferences Madrid Hub (Nihao Spain), the vice-president of the EU-China Trust (Association for the promotion of mutual and sustainable trust between the European Union and China) explained the mission of the organisation, whose priority is to strengthen the trust between the EU and China, focusing on the…

Cooperation between Hefei and Salamanca cities (EU-China Trust)

On March 25, 2022, the EU-China Trust organized an online video conference among the Foreign Affairs Office of the Hefei Municipal People’s Government and the Foreign Affairs Office of the Salamanca Municipal Government on promoting friendly exchanges and cooperation between the two cities. Liu Yang (刘洋), deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Hefei…

Mutual and Sustainable Trust (EU-China Trust)

Hefei Foreign Affairs Office and the China-Europe Association for the Promotion of Mutual and Sustainable Trust (EU-China Trust) held Informal consultations On March 17, 2022, the China-Europe Association for the Promotion of Mutual and Sustainable Trust held an informal online dialogue with the Foreign Affairs Office of the Hefei Municipal People’s Government. The parties discussed…