To reduce the energy and carbon footprint of Chinese cities and meet the country's Paris Climate Agreement targets, it is estimated that by 2020, China needs to invest $254 billion to support the construction of green buildings and retrofit existing ones. There is potential for a billion-dollar market of cost-effective, green, and energy efficient building opportunities in China; however, few structures exist in China’s market for banks and institutional investors to deploy capital for energy efficiency. On July 26, CEF is inviting four experts to discuss ways to facilitate financing that will stimulate the market of green and energy-efficient buildings and technologies that China needs to reach its low carbon goals.

Xiao Sun, chairman of the Ma’anshan Rural Commercial Bank (MRCB), will discuss how MRCB is promoting green building development as part of  their effort to become the world’s first completely green bank. Carolyn Szum, program manager at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), will discuss their partnership with Citibank and MRCB to create new financing tools for energy-efficient buildings in China. Alex Kragie, the Coalition for Green Capital, will talk about climate financing and green banks, and successful cases on green financing in the U.S. Lastly, program director Yunhan Mao, from International Finance Corporation (IFC), will briefly introduce IFC’s China Climate Finance Advisory program, and the role it plays in greening urban development.