Scaling Green Finance in China and the United States

Asia Society Northern California and the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, in partnership with ChinaSF, the Bay Area Council, the US-China Clean Energy Forum and the China-US Energy Efficiency Alliance will hold a conference on green finance in China and the U.S.

The green technology sector is expected to grow to over $2 trillion annually by 2020—nearly a $1.5 trillion increase from 2007. Where will investments of this magnitude come from? Finance is one of the most serious and under-appreciated constraints on rapid green economic development. Widespread deployment of existing technologies can achieve the goal of global emissions peaking in 2020 and keeping temperature increases below 2°C. But investment volumes need to triple in order to get there.

There is no single solution, but it is clear that the US and China will play leadership roles in scaling up green finance. The two economies have striking complementarities, with the US strong in innovation and China strong in pilot testing and manufacturing. The US has financial mechanisms and China has cash reserves, both have pressing needs. Coordinating efforts to scale green finance represents an opportunity that is barely tapped to date.

In December 2010, Asia Society Northern California and the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, in partnership with ChinaSF, the Bay Area Council, the US-China Clean Energy Forum and the China-US Energy Efficiency Alliance, will gather leading financiers, businesses, and analysts from the US and China to discuss these and other questions:

• How do the green finance players and playing fields differ in the US and China?

• How does the cleantech revolution challenge traditional finance mechanisms? How must these mechanisms adapt?

• What impact has the global recession had on the process and availability of finance for green projects and technologies?

• What is the impact on the cleantech sectors of the US and Chinese economic stimulus plans?

• Given the deep uncertainties in the cleantech regulatory environment and the limits of government finance, particularly in the US, where will long-term investment come from? How can the private sector navigate such uncertainty?

• What new and innovative financing mechanisms are being developed and deployed in the two countries?

• How can China and the US leverage each other's strengths to massively scale global green finance?