Publications

China Green Finance Task Force Report: Environmental Cost Analysis

China’s existing accounting system fails to effectively evaluate environmental costs, leading to them being interested in investment, commercial and policy decision-making. This paper sets out the case for creating a public non-profit environmental cost analysis system, to give access to environmental data and methodologies, and reduce the cost and information barriers to evaluating the true environmental cost of investment projects.

This would involve the Ministry of Environmental Protection, together with financial research institutions and associations and would support existing environmental protection measures such as environmental impact assessment, company-level environmental management, and the issuance of Pollutant Discharge Permits.

[NB: This paper is one chapter of the broader report “Establishing China’s Green Financial System” developed by the China Green Finance Task Force, which was convened by the Research Bureau of the People’s Bank of China together with the UNEP Inquiry]