LocationsRemarks by Ms Beate Trankmann at 2025 Annual Conference of the International Institute of Green Finance
September 20, 2025
UNDP Resident Representative in China, Beate Trankmann, delivered a speech titled "China's Experience and Global Cooperation: A New Journey in Green Financing" via video message, for the 2025 Annual Conference of the International Institute of Green Finance (IIGF), in Beijing, China.
尊敬的马海涛校长 尹艳林主任 栗峥校长，
(Esteemed President Ma Haitao, Vice-Chairman Yin Yanlin, Vice-President Li Zheng)
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning!
很荣幸能与各位相聚在这一重要时刻，共同庆祝中央财经大学绿色金融国际研究院（IIGF）成立十周年。
(It is an honour to be with you all at this important moment to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the International Institute of Green Finance (IIGF) at the Central University of Finance and Economics.)
On behalf of UNDP, as a long-term partner of IIGF, I would like to extend our warmest congratulations on this significant milestone.
We are proud to have witnessed and actively participated in IIGF’s remarkable growth over the past decade – a decade, which has coincided with significant innovation in China’s green financing landscape.
During this time, China has pioneered critical reforms including the launch of green finance pilot zones in 2017 and climate investment and financing pilots in 2022.
These efforts have aimed to channel more capital into green and sustainable development in support of the country’s vision to pivot away from a resource-intensive development model and decarbonise its economy.
As a result, green loans in China currently stand at 5.1 trillion dollars [1], while 69 billion dollars of green bonds aligned with international standards, were issued last year [2].
The new Catalogue of Green Finance-supported Projects is expected to inject even further momentum, through greater regulatory harmonization aiming at reducing reporting costs for financial institutions in China [3].
As we recognize and celebrate these achievements, we must also acknowledge the challenges that lie ahead.
With less than five years to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, only 17% of targets are on track, while some, including those for SDG 13 – Climate Action are actually regressing [4].
The financing gap is at the heart of this shortfall. Globally, an estimated 4 trillion dollars is needed annually to meet the SDGs [5], while at the same time 56 developing countries -- nearly double the number from a decade ago -- are burdened with heavy debt and interest payments exceeding 10% of government revenue [6]. These trends are constraining countries’ ability to invest in education, health and climate.
Here in China, financing is also critical. To achieve carbon neutrality before 2060 – in line with the Government’s ambitious Dual Carbon Goals – a total of 140 trillion RMB (22 trillion dollars) of investment is needed [7].
China’s progress to meet this goal is vital to keeping the 1.5C target of the Paris Agreement alive. Indeed, given its size and capacity, China’s efforts carry major significance for the world.
Through the sharing of best practices and lessons, as well as through strengthened investments in the green transition, China has the opportunity to help accelerate global progress, foster collaboration, and play a pivotal role in raising international climate ambitions.
In particular, it can further build on the example set during the COP15 Biodiversity Conference with the creation of the Kunming Biodiversity Fund, and the 24 billion dollars in climate-related funds provided to developing countries between 2016 and 2024.
"Through the sharing of best practices and lessons, as well as through strengthened investments in the green transition, China has the opportunity help accelerate global progress, foster collaboration, and play a pivotal role in raising international climate ambitions."
At UNDP, we will continue to support China in advancing its low-carbon efforts, strengthening the progress and partnerships established over the last decade.
Indeed, in August of this year, together with the Ministry of Finance and the Central University of Finance and Economics, we signed an MOU to deepen collaboration.
Through this important partnership, we will focus on leveraging public finance instruments to advance China’s low-carbon transition and its progress towards carbon neutrality at the national and local levels.
But public finance and domestic actions alone won’t be enough. We also need commercial finance, and collective efforts at the international level, to turn visions into action at the speed and scale required.
Let me mention three areas that I believe will be critical over the next 10 years:
First, greater continuity of policies, frameworks, and tools is important to help channel public and private financing through a sustainable, inclusive financial architecture, in line with national goals and the SDGs.
To this end, initiatives like UNDP’s Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFFs), which aim to reform policies, strengthen institutions, and convene investors to advance climate financing at scale, are crucial.
In addition, regulations and standards like the ones promoted by the Taskforces on both Climate- and Nature-related Financial Disclosure are important to help boost reporting transparency, and facilitate international exchanges.
Debt for development swaps could also be an effective tool to tackle debt distress and redirect existing financial commitments towards sustainable development priorities, continuing to scale support to developing countries in their climate financing efforts.
Second, transition finance. Moving forward, it will be important to explore innovative de-risking mechanisms to advance the low carbon transitions of hard-to-abate sectors in support of national priorities.
In addition, it will be crucial to expand the utilization of these mechanisms to a broader set of stakeholders, including state-owned enterprises and key players in these sectors, to partner on bankable pipelines that advance whole-of-economy approaches towards carbon neutrality.
And third, global cooperation. No country can address the challenges of climate change alone. This is an existential crisis that transcends borders.
By sharing policy innovations, technical expertise, and financing solutions across developing countries, we can accelerate learning and scale up what works. China, with its experience in green finance and its growing role as a provider of climate-related funds, is well positioned to support these collective efforts.
As China crafts the next generation of its national climate plan, the NDCs, alongside its 15th five-year plan, continued ambition and bold actions can significantly contribute to slowing the global rise in emissions, while also unlocking domestic opportunities for innovation, jobs and resilience.
The path forward is clear. To accelerate SDG finance, we need fiscal reforms to expand resources, stronger pipelines of higher-quality projects to attract private capital, unified disclosure and classification to protect market integrity, and extensive capacity-building to ensure implementation.
UNDP will continue to serve as a catalyst, working alongside all partners to translate global commitments into tangible funds, projects, and impact on the ground.
In closing, let me express my sincere gratitude to the IIGF at Central University of Finance and Economics for their decade-long pioneering contributions to research and practice in sustainable finance.
The academic community and young talents play an indispensable role in advancing institutional design, standard setting, and market innovation.
I look forward to continuing our collaboration with all of you present today to connect knowledge, policies, and capital, collectively driving towards a fairer, greener, and more resilient decade ahead.
Thank you all.
[1] https://www.gov.cn/lianbo/bumen/202502/content_7004354.htm
[2] Climate Bonds | China Sustainable Debt State of the Market Report 2024
[3] China updates green taxonomy to increase energy transition finance - Green Central Banking
[4] https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2024
[5] https://feature.undp.org/4-trillion-dollar-challenge/index.html
[7] China’s Climate Challenge: Financing the Transition to Net Zero | World Economic Forum
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