https://www.scmp.com/rss/508956/feed Mathias Lund Larsen is senior research consultant at the International Institute of Green Finance at the Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing and dual PhD fellow at Copenhagen Business School and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com If we want to solve the biodiversity crisis, investing in alternative meats is arguably the scientifically most efficient solution. In this context, China is both a source of the problem and a key part of the solution: it is the world’s second-biggest meat market and an important driver in making alternative meat mainstream. However, researchers and financiers across the world, including in China, fail to recognise the potential, and instead continue to prioritise inefficient investment in... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3150476/amid-global-biodiversity-crisis-china-can-lead-alternative-meat?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3150476/amid-global-biodiversity-crisis-china-can-lead-alternative-meat?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Oct 2021 01:45:10 +0000 Over the last decade, sustainable investments have gone mainstream as investors shun fossil fuels and seek out green bonds and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments instead. Green investments estimated to be worth more than US$30 trillion now occupy the centre of financial markets. Despite this, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) financing gap is as large as ever. The world is awash in capital. With global financial assets valued at US$900 trillion, there is plenty of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3133552/why-world-awash-green-investments-cant-find-money-sustainable?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3133552/why-world-awash-green-investments-cant-find-money-sustainable?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 May 2021 08:45:08 +0000 Green investments have gone mainstream as portfolios divest themselves of fossil fuels to add green bonds and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments instead. Over the past decade, green issues have gone from being a niche investment to the centre of financial markets, with more than US$30 trillion estimated to be sustainably invested today. But there are critical problems in driving green finance forwards. Among these are the dispersed standards applied across the world and the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3130809/how-china-and-eu-can-work-together-drive-green-bonds-esg?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3130809/how-china-and-eu-can-work-together-drive-green-bonds-esg?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Apr 2021 19:30:13 +0000 Contrary to China’s grand climate ambitions, the work to bring its financial system in line is slowing down. The decentralised financial system in China has, at times, been leading the effort on climate change. Yet, as political ambitions have caught up with the financial sector, progress has stalled, and last year’s numbers are out of tune with President Xi Jinping’s goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2060. Past estimates from the People’s Bank of China’s chief economist, Ma Jun, said China... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3122533/how-chinas-green-finance-slowdown-threatens-global-climate?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3122533/how-chinas-green-finance-slowdown-threatens-global-climate?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Feb 2021 19:30:04 +0000