Global event launched to solicit opinions on climate investment and finance

A news report by China.org.cn on a global event launched on July 2 in Beijing to collect new ideas to address challenges in climate investment and finance:

A global event was launched on July 2 in Beijing to collect new ideas from around the world to address challenges in climate investment and finance. 

The Climate Investment and Finance Article Call 2020 event was launched at the online ceremony for China's National Low-carbon Day, which falls on July 2 this year.

Starting from early August, the organizing committee will collect writings on innovative concepts and industrial practices, aiming to address global challenges in climate investment and finance, and to further improve research in the field.

Li Gao, director general of the Department of Climate Change at the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, delivered a keynote speech at the event, inviting scholars from both China and abroad to contribute new thoughts and share their practices.

Li Gao delivers a keynote speech at the event, July 2, 2020.

The authors or teams are required to submit their works before Jan. 10, 2021. Upon submission, in February, an expert panel will select the best works and recommend them to cooperating journals for publication. A selection of the top authors or teams will then be invited to participate in the 2021 China Climate Investment and Finance International Forum as guest speakers to discuss relevant issues.

Li, who is also the director of Climate Investment and Finance Association (CIFA) at the Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences, said the expert panel will adopt a rigorous process in selecting and recommending papers.

The expert panel consists of professionals from more than 20 top universities around the world as well as 12 prestigious journals in the fields of finance, economics, energy and environmental research.

The reviewing committee is co-chaired by Xie Zhenhua, president of the Climate Change and Sustainable Development Institute of Tsinghua University, and special advisor on Climate Change Affairs of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and Ernesto Zedillo, director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, professor in the field of international economics and politics, and former president of Mexico. 

Xie Zhenhua delivers a speech at the event, July 2, 2020.

According to Xie, "The expert panel will conscientiously review and select a collection of outstanding articles which meet an international standard of excellence, generate innovative findings, and potentially deliver policy influence."

Zedillo added, "I encourage all prospective respondents to this call to apply their talents to produce research and concrete ideas that can be translated into more enlightened and effective policies."

Ernesto Zedillo delivers a speech at the event, July 2, 2020.

D'Maris Coffman, deputy chief of the events' reviewing committee and director of University College London's Bartlett School of Construction & Project Management, said: "The world requires fundamental shifts in global climate investment and finance, from billions to trillions. Our climate policy needs to be transformed to maximize the real and additional climate benefit and to mobilize private sector financing."

The event is jointly initiated and organized by the CIFA, University of Edinburgh Business School, the Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management of University College London, School of Management and Economics at the Beijing Institute of Technology, and the Institutes of Science and Development at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It is co-organized by the China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group, China Central Depository & Clearing Co., Ltd., Guangdong Reduce Carbon Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing Guohuan Rhein Environmental Co., Ltd., and China International Engineering Consulting Corporation.