On the afternoon of December 29, “Nanjing ESG Sustainable Investment Seminar” hosted by Nanjing Municipal Investment Promotion Bureau was successfully held. On this occasion, many business executives gathered at the Golden Eagle World Future Hall to share the new opportunities of development under the “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality” strategy. Besides, it was announced at the seminar that the 1st “Nanjing Wuxiang – ESG Sustainable Investment Forum” will be launched at Wuxiang Mountain, Lishui District in the first quarter of next year to bring together global resources for Nanjing to build into a pioneer city of ESG investment.
In recent years, ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance), which quantifies the sustainable development concept, has aroused a growing concern from all walks of life. ESG evaluation system and ESG investment quickly become industrial hotspots. The relevant ranking list shows that, in terms of ESG development resources, Nanjing is one of the top three cities with remarkable development advantages and huge investment potential among China’s sub-provincial cities and municipalities with independent planning. With the opportunity to implement the “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality” strategy, Nanjing makes planning for ESG investment and creates a special service brand to attract more partners.
At the seminar, relevant experts analyzed Nanjing ESG investment environment from clean energy, biodiversity protection, science and innovation conditions, policy subsidies, industrial clusters, etc. Starbucks China and RGM International shared their vision of ESG sustainable development for enterprises in Nanjing. Participating companies reached a consensus that ESG is becoming a new name card of Nanjing, and will appeal to leading enterprises to pour investment into Nanjing.
As a “waste-free city” in the national 14th Five-Year Plan period, Nanjing has made explorative attempt on ESG. This year, the government guided banks to innovate green financial products and granted a total of 2.976 billion yuan of “Jiangsu Carbon Finance” refinancing loans and 3.56 billion yuan of green rediscounts. Furthermore, Nanjing has also issued a number of innovative green bonds, including the first green corporate bond for Nanjing municipal state-owned enterprises, the first climate bond for China non-financial enterprises, and carbon neutrality green technology innovation bonds. Nanjing has also formulated and thoroughly implemented the Action Plan for High end, Intelligent and Green Development of “Two Steel Industries and Four Modernizations” to expedite the low-carbon transformation of traditional high energy-consuming industries.
ESG sustainability needs the leadership of leading enterprises and the support of high-quality projects. In April this year, the Yangtze River Delta Carbon Neutrality Industry Innovation and Investment Alliance was founded under the guidance of Nanjing government, and 15 annual demand-research-application projects were released to build a platform for win-win cooperation among enterprises. Thanks to ESG investment mechanism, Sinopec Carbon Industry Technology Co., Ltd., China’s first carbon industry chain technology company, settled in Nanjing. This year, the “China Energy Valley” (start-up area) invested by Huaneng Group started construction in Chilin Science and Technology Park. Huaneng also joined hands with Nanjing government to establish Low Carbon City Research Institute, with a total investment of about 30 billion yuan and a gross floor area of about 1.6 million square meters. The phase I start-up area, namely, Huaneng Clean Energy Smart Chain Industrial Park, will gather together over 100 energy leaders, forming a 100 billion industrial cluster to drive the development of energy transformation. Hillhouse Capital also set up a carbon neutral fund totaling 4 billion yuan in Nanjing, leading to a resource pool that focuses on non-petrochemical energy, energy storage technology, new energy vehicles, etc.
In this seminar, Nanjing showed its preparations for “Nanjing Wuxiang • ESG Sustainable Investment Forum” to the industry. Relevant reports indicate that the 1st forum will be held at Wuxiang Mountain, Lishui District early next year. With the theme of “seeking new investment fields, gathering elite investors, expanding new investment opportunities, and making a new name card for Nanjing”, the Forum will invite executives from the world’s (China’s) top 500 and multinational companies to share “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality” development experience, exchange sustainable development vision, and reach a consensus between “government, enterprises, institutions, and scholars”.
Aiming to build a pioneer city for ESG investment, the Forum will also seize the investment opportunity and promote major ESG projects to be implemented in Nanjing. In the Forum, the “Nanjing Wuxiang – Practicing ESG Development” Initiative and the Nanjing – China’s Pioneer City for ESG Investment Development will be issued.
