Recap of Panel Discussion: Navigating Green & Sustainable Finance in China event on 30 June

On 30 June 2026, the BritCham Shanghai Sustainability Committee hosted a panel discussion event titled “Navigating Green & Sustainable Finance in China” at Llinks Law Offices.

The event began with opening remarks from Eloise Zhang, Committee and Advocacy Manager at BritCham Shanghai, followed by Elva Yu, Partner at Llinks Law Offices, who delivered a welcome speech on behalf of the firm.

In Elva’s remarks, she highlighted the increasing pressure on businesses in China to enhance their sustainability performance while remaining competitive in a rapidly evolving global market. She emphasised that sustainability has become a core business strategy rather than purely an environmental concern, driven by stricter regulations, shifting market expectations, and post-pandemic transformation. The session set the context for the event by outlining how green finance tools, governance frameworks, and certification mechanisms can support companies in accelerating sustainable growth and advancing China’s broader sustainability ambitions.

The whole event was hosted by Carol Zhang, APAC Sustainability Leader at Edrington and Chair of the BritCham Shanghai Sustainability Committee.

The first panel discussion moderated by Emmanuel focused on how businesses can navigate China’s rapidly evolving green finance landscape while balancing regulatory compliance, sustainability goals, and commercial competitiveness.

The dialogue moved beyond basic compliance to examine how the state’s financial architecture—including central re-lending tools, localized tax levers, and circular economy incentives—can be dynamically leveraged by enterprises. Panellists explored the structural variations across regional policies, emphasizing that successful green initiatives depend on shifting corporate mindsets from short-term cost control to systemic long-term value. Rather than viewing green policies as rigid mandates, the session highlighted how integrating multi-authority incentives and robust data verification creates unique regional competitive advantages for both domestic and foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs).

Key Takeaways from the Speakers

Moderator – Emmanuel DELPLANQUE, CEO, Be-Cause Environment Technology Co., Ltd. and Vice Chair of the BritCham Shanghai Sustainability Committee

• Mobilisation of State Financial Architecture: Highlighted that China’s dual-carbon goals have shifted green initiatives into a state-wide mobilization of financial tools, notably through the PBOC’s expansion of structural re-lending mechanisms to cover 17 major industrial manufacturing sectors for line retrofits and waste recovery.
• Bridging the Foreign Enterprise Access Gap: Pointed out that despite intense regional policy support, many foreign companies remain disconnected from these incentives due to an inability to navigate localized certification standards, data boundaries, and multi-document compliance requirements.

Panellist – Nancy Sun, Senior Partner, China Head of Energy Practice, Dacheng Shanghai Office

• District-Level Policy Divergence: Emphasised that government incentives in Shanghai operate across three core dimensions (subsidies, tax, and financing) but are highly fragmented by district, meaning compliance models tailored to one district’s industrial goals cannot be replicated elsewhere.
• Equal Regulatory Treatment and Greenwashing Risks: Clarified that regulations offer equal treatment to foreign-invested enterprises but warned that cross-border data mismatches between diverse disclosure scopes pose significant accidental greenwashing risks.

Panellist – Shelley SHEN, Former Chief Impact Officer of APAC Region & President of APAC WE (Women Empowerment) Community, Saint-Gobain

• Multi-Authority Incentive Structuring: Advised companies to move beyond a single regulatory channel, demonstrating that a single green asset can concurrently unlock project-level backing from the NDRC, operational alignment from local district level of “Fa Gai Wei” (发改委) or the relevant Energy Saving dept of Industrial Zone Management Committee and/or local authority “Jie Dao”(街道办事处) as per local government authority’s organization, and long-term fiscal optimization from the Tax Bureau.
• Evolution of Carbon-Linked Credit Transmission: Observed that domestic compliance frameworks are shifting from energy volume controls to dual-control carbon intensity indicators, paving the way for carbon-linked banking partnerships that lower borrowing costs across entire supply chains.

Panellist – Jeremy Yu, Founder, IN2ORBITS Group

• Closing the Loop via Collaborative Ecosystems: Demonstrated through an industrial gypsum board recycling project that executing complex circular economy initiatives requires building licensed regional networks (such as regional processing hubs) to legally overcome strict environmental recycling boundaries.
• Prioritising Verifiable Action over Short-Term Funding: Argued that regional green refinancing maturity varies by location, and advised companies to focus on establishing clean, verifiable environmental results on the ground first, as robust corporate governance naturally attracts regulatory capital and commercial positioning.

Keynote – Global Market Trends & Sustainable Finance 101

To ensure all attendees—particularly those new to the sector—gained a solid baseline of knowledge, the keynote session opened with an accessible primer on sustainable finance fundamentals. Mingyi Chen demystified the current landscape by first reviewing global market trends, highlighting the robust growth in sustainable bonds, loans, and equity markets where Chinese financial institutions and enterprises currently command a leading global presence. The presentation then contrasted the key financing vehicles, moving past generic definitions. It distinguished between Green Loans, which strictly restrict funds to specific environmental projects, and Sustainability-Linked Loans (SLLs), which adjust financing terms based on verified sustainability performance targets. Mingyi concluded the keynote by highlighting that these sustainable financing mechanisms deliver a wide range of strategic benefits to enterprises, seamlessly leading into the second panel discussion.

Panel Discussion 2 – Global Horizons & Domestic Pathways in Sustainable Financing

The second panel discussion moderated by Mingyi focused on the practical implementation of sustainable finance, bringing together representatives from international commercial banking, non-bank leasing providers, independent sustainability advisory, and professional accounting bodies to discuss how businesses can successfully access green financing.

The dialogue moved beyond basic compliance to examine how this integrated network is actively reshaping corporate value. Panellists explored the strategic intersection between stringent global capital mandates and pragmatic domestic execution, illustrating how mechanisms like sustainability-linked supply chain incentives, rigorous third-party assurance, and asset-level energy retrofits support both multinational operations and traditional high-carbon sectors. Rather than framing sustainability as a static checklist, the session highlighted how embedding continuous, verified carbon data into corporate governance structurally reduces credit risk and unblocks capital, particularly for SMEs. Ultimately, the panel demonstrated that accelerating China’s sustainable transition relies on translating macro disclosure frameworks into actionable, commercially viable pathways on the ground.

Key Takeaways from the Speakers

Panellist – Chester Zhu, Head of Sustainable Finance & Transition, China Corporate and Institutional Banking, Asia Pacific, HSBC Bank (China) Company Limited

• Climate risk metrics as a financing consideration: Major international financial institutions have embedded net-zero agendas and global benchmarks (e.g., the Equator Principles) into portfolio management and transaction decision-making processes, aligning capital and capabilities with customers’ transition goals.
• Tiered Pricing in Supply Chain Finance: Lenders are increasingly leveraging digitalised ESG scoring systems to segment corporate supply chains, passing tangible commercial incentives directly down to the furthest tiers of the industrial ecosystem.

Panellist – Zhao Li, ESG VP, Far East Horizons

• Downshifting Sustainable Capital to Traditional SMEs: The primary value of non-bank financial institutions like financial leasing firms lies in channeling sustainable funds down to small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) within traditional, hard-to-abate sectors (such as cement, steel, and chemicals), rather than competing for over-funded new energy giants.
• Value-Driven, Practical Operational Retrofits: Traditional corporate transition must be anchored in immediate economic benefit. Securing a direct 10%–20% drop in energy consumption via Energy Management Contracts (EMC), while facilitating access to government subsidies and green factory accreditations, represents the most viable path to green empowerment.

Panellist – Joy Yin, Managing Consultant, ERM

• The Strategic Value Brought to Enterprises: Outlined the multi-layered commercial advantages that sustainable financing yields for businesses on the ground. Beyond unlocking immediate financial benefits through preferential interest rates, these mechanisms provide a disciplined quantitative roadmap for internal management and significantly enhance a company’s market credibility when executing cross-border expansions.
• The Core Role of Professional Advisory Institutions: Explained how professional advisory and assurance firms act as the vital connective tissue in this financial ecosystem. By conducting independent Environmental and Social Due Diligence (ESDD) and delivering Second-Party Opinions (SPOs), these institutions translate complex global standards into practical, localized operational steps, ensuring full compliance while robustly protecting companies against greenwashing risks.

Panellist – Sam Chen, Regional Lead Policy & Insight China ACCA

• Evolution of the Finance Function: Driven by ISSB frameworks and China’s new standards, finance teams must shift from passive compliance to active value creation, integrating carbon and human assets into corporate valuations to mitigate climate and credit risks.
• Outlook on Harmonisation and Assurance: Sustainability disclosure is moving gradually towards global standardisation and a mandatory transition from limited to reasonable assurance, turning verified sustainability data into an indispensable baseline for future financial decisions.

Moderator – Mingyi Chen, Project Manager & China Compliance Manager, ERM and Vice Chair of the BritCham Shanghai Sustainability Committee

• Seamless Global-to-Local Framework Alignment: Successfully executing high-quality sustainable transactions relies entirely on a collaborative ecosystem of advisers, banks, and regulators capable of precisely translating macro-level international ESG criteria into practical, fully compliant operational plans for domestic enterprises on the ground.

BritCham Shanghai remains steadfast in its commitment to empowering business leaders with the knowledge, networks, and strategic foresight needed to navigate the complex and rapidly evolving sustainable finance landscape. Through the dedicated efforts of its Sustainability Committee and a growing portfolio of high-impact events, the Chamber continues to serve as a vital bridge for cross-sector collaboration, bringing together diverse expertise to tackle the most pressing environmental and governance challenges of our time. As China’s green transition accelerates and global sustainability expectations continue to rise, BritCham Shanghai will persist in convening the conversations that matter—helping businesses move from commitment to action, from compliance to leadership, and from short-term adaptation to long-term, sustainable growth.