MNI Brief: China And US Have Common Ground On Green Recovery

China and the U.S. can cooperate on efforts to battle climate change as the two countries seek to boost and transform their economies with low-carbon emission technologies and policies, Chinese officials said in a forum at the weekend.

Lou Jiwei, a former finance minister, said at the Global Asset Management Forum 2021 in Beijing that China could work together with the U.S. in areas such as updated infrastructure, including green power grids.

Xie Zhenhua, China's special envoy for climate change, said the two sides are already cooperating in eight sectors and have had 16 meetings to iron-out details. Globally, governments should unveil specific targets and incentivize financial policies to stabilise market expectations and attract private capital.

Xie said China is expected to invest over CNY136 trillion to reach a 2060 carbon neutral target, which means there is a huge demand for investment, noting hundreds of billions of yuan would be spent to design green financial products by financial institutions.

On the economy, Lou warned that risks of inflation and a trend of de-globalisation should be taken into consideration, adding that at the same time Chinese fiscal authorities should remain cautious on fiscal expansion.