On 30 June 2025, Chinese Ambassador to the UK Zheng Zeguang was invited to the Net Zero Finance Innovation Summit of City Week 2025.

Ambassador Zheng pointed out in his speech that China places great importance on the pivotal role of green finance in building a Beautiful China and achieving sustainable development. China has issued several policy documents on this front. For example, the Opinions on Leveraging Green Finance to Support the Building of a Beautiful China, the Guidance on Further Strengthening Financial Support for Green and Low-Carbon Development, and the Guidance on Advancing the Five Key Areas of Finance. Thanks to continuous efforts, China’s green finance sector has achieved remarkable expansion. Green credit balance exceeded 40 trillion yuan in the first quarter of this year,. Between January and May, 236 green bonds were issued, totalling 411 billion yuan. And China’s green insurance has grown significantly, with a coverage of 469 trillion yuan by the end of August 2024.

Ambassador Zheng noted the great potentials for China and the UK to cooperate in green finance. The word “green” was mentioned 31 times in the policy outcomes of the 11th China-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue, and green finance and biodiversity finance were identified as key areas of collaboration. The UK-China Green Finance Taskforce, jointly organised by the City of London and China Society for Finance and Banking, has made good progress. Several Chinese banks have successfully issued green bonds in the City. In April this year, China issued 6 billion yuan in green sovereign bonds at the London Stock Exchange. It was the very first RMB-denominated green sovereign bonds, marking another milestone in China-UK cooperation on green finance and sustainable development. Moving forward, both sides can further leverage their complementary strengths to expand cooperation in green finance. It is hoped that the City and all the business leaders present will continue to take a lead in these endeavours.