On May 17, 2018, with the invitation of the China-EU Green Energy Finance Research Institute at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Mr. Tang Bin, the General Manager of Shenzhen Qianhai Financial Assets Exchange,Ltd  came to visit and delivered a lecture entitled “Turning Green to Gold: Practice and Thoughts of Green Finance - Taking the cooperation between Industrial Bank and IFC as an Example”, this is the first lecture of the Innovation Forum for Green Finance and New Energy Investment and Financing of our institute (ICARE)which arouse public’s widespread interest and attention The lecture was hosted by Li Zhitian of ICARE, Prof. Yao Hong, Chairman of School of Energy and Power Engineering (SEPE), Prof. Luo Xiaobing, Dean of SEPE and ICARE, Yi Hui, vice dean of ICAREattended the lecture, and many personals from Hubei banking sector, new energy industry, and colleagues from HUST joined in this event.

    Prof.Luo Xiaobing made a welcome speech on behalf of ICARE. He said that with the increasing growth of population and rapid economic development, the energy consumption has greatly increased in recent years andthe global ecological environment has been severely challenged. The realization of green growth has become the current development trend of the world economy. In this context, the promotion and practice of the "green finance" concept is of great significance. Later in the applause of the audience, Prof.Luo Xiaobing invited Mr.Tang Bin to share his practice and thoughts in the field of green finance.

  Mr.Tang Bin first briefly reviewed his banking career and efforts in promoting the development of "green finance" in China. He used to be Executive Director and Secretary of the Board of Directors of Industrial Bank. He has conducted in-depth research and practice in corporate governance, capital management and financial tool innovation, environmental financing, sustainable development and embedding the social responsibility into commercial banking, and promoted Industrial Bank to become the first commercial bank which adopts the "Equator Principles" in the our country (China).

He used the example of cooperation between Industrial Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) as an introduction to the formation of Industrial Bank's "green finance" concept. At that time, IFC hopes to become the most important strategic investor in Industrial Bank, as in responds of its own commitment to promoting the sustainable development of developing member countries. In the process of negotiation between the two parties became focusing on "shareholders' interests’ paramount” or "taking into consideration of stakeholders”, then shifting to "giving full consideration to multi-stakeholders," and eventually integrating social responsibility and sustainable development concepts into the bank's development strategy. In the cooperation and game between IFC and Industrial Bank, the concept of corporate governance is constantly being reformed.

    It is precisely because of this opportunity that Industrial Bank began its exploration of “green finance”. Mr.Tang Bin pointed out that green finance refers to economic activities that support climate change and resource conservation and efficient use in order to support environmental improvement, that is, investment, financing, project operations, and risk management of projects in areas such as environmental protection, energy conservation, clean resources, green transportation, and green buildings. He profoundly analyzed the relationship between environmental finance, sustainable finance, energy efficiency finance, and carbon finance, and analyzed in a simple and easy way and the relationship among green finance's “publicity,” “externality,” “uncertainty,” and “endogenous contradictions.” Therefore, he stressed that all commercial banks should take the vanguard, actively undertake social responsibilities, and vigorously support new energy companies to contribute to the sustainable development of the entire society.

   Mr.Tang Bin later introduced that the “Equator Principles” were originally called the “Greenwich Principles”, i.e. “Project Finance Guidelines for Environmental and Social Risks”, and is an important principle in the field of green finance. He presented the details of the "Equator Principles" and the revision process, and showed that the change in the name of the "Equator Principles" is precisely because "green finance" is not only the responsibility of developed countries, but the northern and south together. In recent years, in China, with the application of the “Equator Principles” in the country, green financial related policies are quickly improved.

 Mr.Tang Bin emphasizes that when developing green finance business, commercial banks should pay attention to the concept of “immorality for profit”. As a special public enterprise, commercial banks play an important role in social and economic activities. However, the huge investment requirements for energy saving and environmental protection cannot be satisfied by relying solely on government financial support and enterprises' own investment. Therefore, commercial banks must “implement the interests of others” to carry out the creation of environmental financial products, take into account social and commercial interests, and guide the transfer of funds from purely profit-taking behavior to sustainable development investment. He took an example of investment ignoring the environment as a result of the project's stranding, and warned everyone that practicing green finance is not a commercial bank's trying to make better image of itself, but must be carefully considered when making financial investments. Relying on green finance, the commercial banks can maximally circumvent environmental risks, so that commercial banks can achieve true “point green to gold”.

  In the questioning session of the audience, many viewers actively asked questions. Mrs.Liu Yang, director of the Institute’s Education Center, put it: “What should we think about the multi-party cooperation in the green finance field, namely the cooperation space of new energy professionals and technicians from banks to schools?” Mr.Tang Bin replied that green finance must be a laboratory-to-industry in the process, the banking industry needs to rely on third-party forces in the implementation of "green finance", including scientific research, auditing, statistics, etc. He himself will also provide as much as possible for the scientific researchers a channel for participation.

At the end of the lecture, Prof.Yao Hong presented souvenirs to Mr.Tang Bin and congratulated the lecture on its success.

The lecture was the first event of the “Green Finance and New Energy Investment and Financing Innovation Forum”. It also taught frontline practitioners the cutting-edge theory and practical experience in the field of green finance and new energy, and promoted the development of the green energy financial sector. Exchanges and the promotion of innovative cooperation between "technology" and "capital" are of great significance.