With the socialism with Chinese characteristics entering a new era, such a scene of "Travelling at the foot of a green mountain and boating on the clear waters" as depicted in an ancient poem has been an important part of the people's growing needs for a better life. Under the guidance of President Xi Jinping's wise judgment of "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets," the green development has gradually been elevated to one of the five major development concepts in China. As a marketization mechanism for giving play to the role of the capital market in optimizing resource allocation and supporting the construction of ecological civilization and sustainable development, the green finance has drawn extensive attention at home and abroad. The Report of the 19th CPC National Congress points out that building the ecological civilization is a strategy crucial for a millennium to come as well as for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation, and it is necessary to develop the green finance and advance the green development. The development of the green finance is both an inevitable requirement for the construction of a beautiful China and the formation of an ecological system that reveres the nature, and a common concept in global economic development and financial cooperation.
In recent years, the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) has attached great importance to and meticulously made plans for pushing forward the innovation and development for the green finance in an all-round manner, with a leading group for advancing green finance and sustainable development set up. In September last year, the SSE formally joined in the UN Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative so as to further deepen international cooperation in the field of green finance and improve the SSE's green finance work system.
In order to give further play to the role of the capital market in supporting the national strategy and the green development, under the guidance of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the SSE has formulated the "SSE Vision and Action Plan for Supporting Green Development and Promoting Green Finance (2018-2020)" (the "Vision and Action Plan" for short) on the basis of careful analysis. As a framework document for the SSE to bolster the green development and propel the green finance in the future, the "Vision and Action Plan" will coordinate and guide all tasks at the SSE as well as provide strong support for the development of China's green finance system.
The "Vision and Action Plan" includes the three parts of the formulation background, the SSE's objectives and principles for advancing the green finance and the action plan. Among them, the third part of the action plan points out that the SSE plans to take 14 specific measures in the five areas of "strengthening the support of the stock market for green development", "proactively developing the green bonds", "vigorously advancing green investment", "deepening international cooperation in green finance" and "enhancing research and promotion for green finance", in a bid to press ahead with the development of green finance.
As an old Chinese saying goes, "One must start from a lower place to ascend high and from the first step to go far," the issuance of the SSE's "Vision and Action Plan" marks not only a new start for summarizing the experience and achieving the smooth and long-term success in the green finance, but also an important pivot for leading the market consensus and boosting the green development. Under the guidance of the systemic action guide, the SSE will uphold the value concept of utmost integrity and fairness and global finance, and pool more capital resources in developing China's green finance system and advancing the great course of China's sustainable development.
