The continued spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent international turmoil has made economic recovery for all countries. Therefore, achieving global green growth and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals turned out to be a global challenge. However, there is now a global consensus on multilateral cooperation to address climate change. China's President Xi Jinping announced that the country will be carbon neutral by 2060. The US rejoined the Paris Agreement in 2021. The EU proposed a European Green Deal and the UK was the first to set a legal target of carbon neutrality by 2050.
However, achieving carbon neutrality will require action and funding from all walks of the society, especially from the green finance sector. To promote green growth and a smooth transformation on energy and development mode, to achieve the dual goals of carbon peaking and neutrality and give a full play of China's leading role in green finance and sustainable development, the IFF and together with Goldman Sachs, the Paulson Institute and dozens of international corporations jointly established the Green Finance Working Group (GFWG) on December 4, 2021,during the IFF's 18th Annual Global Meetings.
The GFWG will be a track two dialogue mechanism supported by China and others for the goals of the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group. It will bring together leading global institutions and their CEO-level representatives of banks and financial institutions, energy and transport, automotive manufacturing, retail and others, as well as leading researchers from the US, EU, UK and China, to multilateral dialogues for identifying solutions on how best to use green finance and capital markets as tools for mitigating climate change and transitioning to a low-carbon economy. The GFWP will also focus on developing concrete, actionable goals and recommendations to drive forward private sector climate solutions and work with policymakers to enhance green finance cooperation across the public and private sectors.
The GFWG will also be a unique high-level engagement platform for business leaders to increase interaction, enhance understanding, strengthen mutual trust, facilitate multilateral cooperation and promote the implementation of projects in the field of green finance.