Themed as "New Development with Sustainability", the 2021 International Forum for China Impact Investment (IFCII) was held in Shanghai on July 16. It aimed to integrate socially responsible investment (SRI) with China’s 14th Five-Year Plan and Long-Range Objectives through the Year 2035, build the SRI ecosystem with Chinese characteristics, and further guide capital toward both financial and social benefits. The 2021 IFCII was sponsored by the China Inclusive Finance Institute (CAFI) and co-organized by YICAI Research Institute and Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Xiaochuan Zhou, President of China Society for Finance and Banking and former Governor of the People’ s Bank of China,Mingbo Chen, Deputy Secretary General of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government (on behalf of Mr. Wu Qing, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Shanghai Committee and Vice Mayor of Shanghai), and Guangshao Tu, Co-chair of IFCII and Executive Director of SAIF Board delivered speeches at IFCII.
On behalf of the research team, Dr. Duoguang Bei, Secretary General of IFCII and President of CAFI officially released The Practice and Prospects of Socially Responsible Investment - From the Margins to the Mainstream (the Report). The Report shows that China’s dominant public ownership, this institutional advantage, lays a good foundation for SRI, and governments at all levels have long been involved in SRI through direct investment or government procurement. After four decades of rapid economic growth, China needs to seek a new model of more coordinated, green and shared development. Against such a backdrop, the Report suggests that help promote the sound development of China’s SRI, we need to clarify concepts, establish a common language for SRI, give the government full play of its catalytic role as a market facilitator to improve infrastructure, mainstream SRI, form a widely recognized system and enhance professional management capacity.
Nearly 40 experts, scholars or business representatives expressed their views and exchanged ideas in Global View, Themed Speech and Panel. In the Themed Speech: Impact Measurement and Management, Tzu Kuan Chiu, Professor of SAIF and Academic Director of Sustainable Finance Discipline, delivered a speech “Impact Investing: the Qualities and Challenges of Three-Dimensional Investing”. In Panel I: Impact Investing in the Capital Market and Panel II: Practice and Vision of Impact Investing, Xiaoxi Sun, Co-chair of IFCII and Former Vice Chairman of National Council for Social Security Fund(NCSSF), Yanli Zhou, Co-chair of IFCII, Member of the Economic Committee of CPPCC and Former Vice Chairman of China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), Yuyin Zhan, Chairman at E Fund Management Co., Ltd. and Kongwei Huang, Party Secretary of Hwabao WP Fund Management and other participants shared their insights on the development of SRI. At the themed dinner, the forum ended with concluding speeches by Jianqing Jiang, Co-Chair of IFCII and Former Chairman of ICBC and other guests.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China will enter a new stage of high-quality socioeconomic development, and many goals bearing on social harmony and people’s well-being will be achieved, including rural revitalization, peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. The 2021 IFCII has built a platform for communication and dialogue between the government, market entities and industry associations. It has also bought parties together to make the capital a force for good and refocus the business development from maximizing shareholders’ interests to creating shared value in the hope to realize a harmonious future for people, community and nature.
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