There is little doubt that China’s ambition to be carbon neutral will have a significant impact on industries across the board, including the banking and insurance industry.
China’s financial institutions may be subject to greater risks associated with climate change, which the regulator needs to monitor to prevent any systemic problems, so information disclosure is the first obvious step.
While many banks and insurers already collect and publish climate-related data, there is no unified policy or guidance to make such efforts more accurate and effective.
Enter CIB Research’s work, which is funded by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. It examined the current situation of climate information disclosure frameworks both inside and outside China. It then summarized the various difficulties and suggested ways to establish a disclosure system for China’s banking and insurance industry.
For example, it proposed a basic catalogue of climate reports, regular stress tests of climate-related risks and a gradual approach to enforcement based on the current situation in China. CIB Research says its research team has been assisting China’s regulators in drafting policies on climate-related information disclosure in the country. It is still not clear when the draft will be made public for review.