The Finance Seminar Series [17] of the City University of Macau was held at the Ho Yin Convention Centre on Taipa campus on 29 Feb 2024. Ms. Sabrina Jiang, Deputy General Manager of the Macao Branch of China Construction Bank was invited as the keynote speaker. The topic of the seminar focuses on “Application and reflection on green finance”. The attending guests include Dean Adrian Cheung and Associate Dean Eva Khong from the Faculty of Finance.

Ms. Sabrina Jiang has been working for China Construction Bank for more than 20 years. With a focus on project financing and credit management, she has served state-owned enterprises as well as large and medium-sized clients throughout her tenure. She works for the Macau Branch for 7 years. She is mainly responsible for credit financing of corporate customers, including cross-border international business, Hong Kong and Macao financing business, financial market business and more.

Ms. Sabrina Jiang started her speech from the concept of green finance. She explained the scope covered by green finance and emphasized its importance in the development of green industries. She introduced China's dual carbon goals and ESG (Environment, Society, Corporate governance) evaluation system, and pointed out that green finance serves as a means to raise funds for achieving carbon neutrality, while the ESG system is an indicator set that measures corporate sustainability from a non-financial perspective, representing a global trend that emphasizes businesses maximizing social responsibility rather than just their own interests.

When discussing the development of green financial products, Ms. Sabrina Jiang highlighted that, at their core, green financial products are the same as conventional financial products, serving as financing tools. However, they are specifically aimed at industries and projects related to carbon neutrality. The most common green finance products include green credit, green bonds, green insurance, green funds, green equity investment, carbon finance, sustainable financial products and more. She particularly mentioned that green credit and green bonds account for a significant share in green financing.

In the second half of the seminar, Ms. Sabrina Jiang discussed the development of green finance in the world, China, the Greater Bay Area, and Macau. She shared insights on the tremendous development of green finance in China, including the establishment of domestically unified and internationally aligned green financial standards, driving continuous innovation in green financial services, leading to an increasingly rich array of products and market systems. China has become the country with the largest scale of green loan disbursements globally and possesses the world's largest carbon market. Regarding the green finance practices in the Greater Bay Area, she emphasized the guiding role of policies. The “Outline Development Plan of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area” and “Opinions on Financial Support for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area” have specified the region's green development notion, the positioning of key cities in green finance development, and laid out plans for key green financial tasks. At the moment, green loans and green bonds are raising prominently in the cities of the Greater Bay Area. However, green finance is still in its initial stages in Macao. She suggested that the government should focus on cultivating green finance talents, invigorate the green bond and financial trading markets, and build a broader green finance platform to promote the development of green finance in Macao.

When discussing the challenges and opportunities faced in the development of green finance, Ms. Sabrina Jiang stated that from a national perspective, the dual carbon goals represent a transformative strategy that is both a breakthrough and future-oriented, and it is one of the easiest areas for China to engage in cooperative dialogues with developed countries. Nevertheless, the dual carbon goals exert pressure on China's economic development. Green projects and industries have long investment cycles, large capital requirements, and low returns, which means that banks, as profit-driven enterprises, lack intrinsic motivation for green projects. Yet, as green financial assets are ideal for medium to long-term balanced hedging, from a diversified asset portfolio strategy perspective, there is rationality and necessity for banks to develop green financial business.

Currently, there are deficiencies in the development of green finance projects.   Financial institutions evaluate the environmental performance of enterprises before financing but lack continuous tracking and monitoring after credit disbursement. Information acquisition is somewhat delayed, making it difficult to control corporates’ "greenwashing" behavior. Ms. Sabrina Jiang suggested creating an information-sharing mechanism between the financial and environmental markets, such as establishing a green rating system for enterprises, allowing financial institutions to determine whether a company and its projects remain green by regularly consulting professional green ratings.

Ms. Sabrina Jiang’s detailed sharing provided students and faculty at City University of Macau with a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of green finance, learning about the challenges and opportunities in its practice and application. Students were filled with anticipation for Macao's potential development in this field. Her speech was not only informative but also motivational, resonating with the students who acknowledged the substantial benefits garnered from her insights. They expressed keen anticipation for the upcoming finance seminars. The Faculty of Finance at City University of Macau extended heartfelt thanks to Ms. Sabrina Jiang for her sharing. The Faculty of Finance will continue to organize such events, deepen cooperation with enterprises, strengthen the integration of financial theory and practical expertise, and jointly cultivate modern financial talent.