Panel Discussion: Navigating Green & Sustainable Finance in China

As the head of BritCham Shanghai, Stuart’s ambition is to drive the continued support and growth of the chamber in line with the members’ needs and evolving business and political environment both in China and at home. Examples of these activities include Government to business round tables, regional East China activities and leading the chamber flagship events including the new British Day, the annual ESG Summit & Awards and the British Business Awards.

Stuart brings to his position over 20 years of UK & international leadership experience covering trade & investment, operations, & project-based experience in world-leading hospitality corporations, as an entrepreneur and in Government.  Prior to taking on this role, Stuart was head of Agriculture, food & drink, trade and investment for the UK Department for International Trade.  His China journey started in 2010, moving to Dubai to join the Shangri-la, Pudong as Assistant Director of Food & Beverage during the World Expo followed by several years as an entrepreneur, starting and operating the Tap House bar & restaurant group.

Stuart holds a Degree in International marketing and communications from Staffordshire University in England and is an active member of many community groups including Heart 2 Heart and lives in Shanghai with his wife Emily, daughter Lilli & two dogs.

Ms. Yu has been engaged in the legal business of finance and generic asset management for a number of years. She frequently provides legal services to Chinese and foreign-funded banks (including private banks), securities companies and their subsidiaries, insurance companies and insurance asset management companies, trust companies, fund management companies and their subsidiaries and other financial institutions as well as factoring companies, financial leasing companies and various private fund managers. Ms. Yu has built up a wealth of experience in providing legal services in various financing projects, the establishment and investment of asset management products, ABS, the establishment and acquisition of financial institutions, non-performing asset restructuring and etc.

Ms. Yu also has extensive experience in cross-border asset management business. She has been providing various legal services under PRC law for multiple well-known overseas financial institutions and asset management companies, including for various QFII / RQFII / QDII / QDLP / QDIE projects, the registration of foreign-owned private fund managers and the raising and operation of private equity funds.

Ms. Elva Yu is recognized by IFLR1000 in the elite category of Women Leaders in 2022 and has been consecutively recommended as a highly-regarded lawyer in investment funds by IFLR1000’s Financial and Corporate Guide in 2020, 2021, and 2022; named as a highly-recommended lawyer in Investment Funds in the Legal 500 Asia-Pacific Rankings in 2020 and 2021; recommended as a leading practitioner in Corporate/M&A and Capital Markets by Asialaw Leading Lawyers in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, as well as by Asialaw Profiles in 2019; recognized as one of China TOP 15 Rising Lawyers by Asian Legal Business in 2018; named as one of the China Top 10 Internet Finance Lawyers by LEGALBAND in 2016. Ms. Yu is currently the external expert to the Asset Support Program of Zhongbaodeng and also participated in the preparation of the Guide for Foreign Investors in China’s Banking and Insurance Sectors (2019) led by the Insurance Asset Management Association of China.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS AND CASES:

• Assisting with Italian Lombarda Bank in establishing Zhong Ou Asset Management Co., Ltd.

• Representing Intesa SanPaulo and Rothschild to invest in the Bank of Qingdao

• Providing legal services to Cathay Fortune Corp acquiring 75% of equity of Sino-French Life Co., Ltd

• Providing legal services to Xiamen ITG in acquiring of China Industrial International Trust Ltd. and becoming its second largest shareholder

• Providing legal services in the establishment of an RMB2.5 billion health investment fund managed by Alibaba Helath and Huatai Zijin

• Representing Admaster in its “C” round financing from BlueFocus

• Providing legal services for Wanhua Group to acquire the largest chemical company of Hungary

• Providing legal services in multiple investments by CICC Genesis Fund and CICC Qirong FOF

• Providing legal services for multiple ABS and ABN projects by JD Finance (Baitiao)

• Providing legal services for multiple ABS and ABN projects by JD Finance (supply chain factoring)

• Providing legal services for the real estate supply chain receivables ABS project by China Merchants Securities and Red Star Macalline

• Providing legal services for the first issuance of CMBN by Guangdajiabao

Chester is a senior corporate banker with over 20 years of experience in Mainland China and International Markets. He is currently heading the Sustainable Finance and Transition business in Corporate and Institutional Banking at HSBC China, supporting the international banking needs of transition ecosystems and the transition journey for HSBC clients. He has a strong track record in supporting Chinese clients with project finance in the US, UK, EU, ASEAN and Mainland China, coordinating IPO, corporate bond, and syndicated loan transactions in Hong Kong, as well as delivering bilateral loan and trade finance solutions in Mainland China. 

Prior to his current position, Chester held various roles within the HSBC Group, the most recent of which included Head of Corporate in Jiangsu and Anhui Provinces, Head of Corporate and Branch Manager in Shenzhen, and Head of China Desk at HSBC USA. 

Jeremy Yu is the founder of IN2ORBITS Group. He has been recognized as one of the VOGUE Business Top 25 Business Innovation Leaders of 2024 and named among Temasek Foundation’s Top 20 Sustainability Leaders in Asia. 
 
Committed to nurturing the next generation of sustainability talent, Jeremy Yu regularly lectures on sustainable business thinking at several universities, including Donghua University, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Fudan University, and Shanghai Institute of Technology.

Joy Yin is a Managing Consultant at ERM, based in Shanghai. She specializes in ESG advisory, with extensive experience supporting financial institutions and corporates on ESG risks and opportunities management. Her expertise spans the full lifecycle of sustainable finance, including ESG due diligence, impact assessment, green/sustainable finance framework development, second party opinion, and performance review and disclosure. Joy has worked with leading domestic and international investors and companies, helping them identify and manage E&S risks and unlock sustainability-linked value in investment/financing decisions and corporate development.

Ms. Yin holds the CFA Certificate in ESG Investing and is a LEED Accredited Professional, bringing technical insight to support the transition to a low-carbon and sustainable economy.

Nancy qualified as a Chinese lawyer in 2000 and serves as a registered foreign lawyer in Hong Kong and Singapore. Prior to joining Dacheng, she worked for one of Australia’s top law firms.

Nancy specializes in energy, green finance, climate policy, and ESG compliance, with extensive experience in China’s carbon markets and green regulatory frameworks. She has advised the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) on China-adapted emissions trading master agreements, supported the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on CDM projects, and acted as counsel to the Beijing Environment Exchange (CBEEX) on the design and compliance framework of China’s national carbon market. She has also advised Shell (China), Vitol, Trafigura and other global energy companies on carbon market participation structures, as well as financial institutions on CCER and carbon allowance-backed financing.

Nancy holds an MBA from the National University of Singapore and UCLA, bringing a strong commercial perspective to complex regulatory and policy-driven matters. She has been recognized by IFLR1000 as 2025 Asia-Pacific Highly Recommended Lawyer and Women Leaders, by Chambers and Partners as a Greater China and Global Energy and Natural Resources Leading Lawyer, by GRCD as 2025 China Clients’ Preferred Energy & Environment Lawyer, among other industry honors.

Li Zhao serves as the Head of ESG Management at Far East Horizon Group. With over 13 years of extensive experience in the sustainability sector, he has also accumulated nearly a decade of specialized sustainability management expertise within Fortune Global 500 companies—predominantly European and American multinationals. His cross-sector proficiency spans a wide range of industries, including finance, electronics, electrical appliances, chemicals, steel, and building materials, demonstrating a robust and versatile capability in driving sustainable practices across complex business environments.

Mr. Sam Chen currently serves as the Regional Lead of Policy and Insights at ACCA China. He holds a Cambridge Sustainable Leadership qualification and was selected as one of the inaugural Caixin ESG 30 Young Scholars. By bridging cutting-edge global developments in the accounting profession with China’s unique development model, he delivers forward-looking professional insights and recommendations.

His areas of expertise span sustainability reporting, sustainability assurance, green finance, carbon accounting, ESG strategy, and digital transformation. Recently, he led his team in collaborating with the Beijing National Accounting Institute to author Towards a Sustainable Future: Digital Intelligence Empowering Green Innovation and Sustainable Development, and with the Shanghai National Accounting Institute to publish Opportunities and Challenges for Chinese Enterprises Going Global: A CFO’s Perspective, both aimed at sharing China’s practical experience. He has also participated in seminars and teaching engagements at the National Accounting Institutes, focusing on sustainability, data resources, and carbon accounting. Furthermore, he has represented his company at various high-level forums and summits, engaging in dialogues with industry leaders and offering strategic recommendations for sector development.

Prior to joining ACCA, Mr. Chen accumulated over a decade of experience in strategic consulting, specializing in sustainability strategy. He has provided advisory services on sustainable investment, green finance, and ESG strategy to numerous domestic and international institutions. With a solid theoretical foundation and extensive practical experience, he has conducted in-depth research on frontier topics and published reports in related fields, including innovations in sustainable and carbon finance.

Emmanuel Delplanque is the Founder & CEO of Be-Cause, an AI-powered sustainability SaaS platform with offices in Shanghai and Paris. Be-Cause helps key industries — automotive, electronics, automation, textile, cosmetics and more — understand their full supply chain and make their transition to sustainability real and measurable. It solves a critical bottleneck for listed companies: onboarding global suppliers into carbon net-zero and ESG strategies, while guiding them through complex EU and Chinese regulations including CBAM, DPP, and EUDR.

Emmanuel brings over 25 years of operational leadership experience in international supply chains, having served as Director of Supply Chain at Tereos (Sugar Europe BU, €1.5B turnover) and held senior roles at Geodis, Courir/Go Sport, and Weldom (Groupe Leroy Merlin). He holds two Master’s degrees — an MSc in Environmental Engineering and an Executive MBA in Sustainable Business Leadership — and is a Certified Sustainable Supply Chain Professional (CSSCP) and a practitioner of the GHG Protocol. He also teaches Sustainable Supply Chain and Green Procurement at 10 leading institutions across France and China.

Mingyi Chen serves as a Project Manager and the China Compliance Manager at ERM, based in Shanghai. Holding CPA Australia, Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), and CFA Certificate in ESG Investing credentials, Mingyi possesses a multidisciplinary background spanning ESG management, data governance, and financial risk management.

In his role as China Compliance Manager, Mingyi oversees regional compliance and data protection frameworks. In his consulting capacity, Mingyi leads the delivery of key sustainability and compliance mandates across the Technology, Pharmaceutical, Real Estate, and New Energy Manufacturing sectors. He specializes in integrating data security governance and privacy protection into broader corporate ESG strategies, guiding teams to deliver comprehensive solutions in sustainability reporting, ESG rating enhancement, and M&A due diligence that balance regulatory compliance with commercial resilience.

Mingyi holds a Master of Business Law and a Master of Professional Accounting from Monash University, and a Bachelor of Communication Engineering from Xiamen University.

Carol Zhang is the Head of China Domestic Supply Chain at Edrington, a leading premium spirits company. With over 13 years of experience in the whisky industry, she has played a key role in building a supply chain that upholds the craftsmanship, quality, and prestige associated with Edrington’s renowned portfolio.

In addition to her core role, Carol serves as the APAC Sustainability Lead, embedding carbon reduction and circular economy principles into the regional supply chain strategy. Her work ensures that Edrington’s prestige positioning is supported not only by operational excellence but also by long-term environmental responsibility.