Green finance may facilitate China in achieving a carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. Regulators and investors from Beijing and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) held a forum on Dec 6 to discuss how to attract private funding to environmental protection, energy conservation and clean energy.

Beijing has issued 1.27-trillion-yuan ($199 billion) worth of green loans, 10 percent of China's total green loans, and carbon trading in Beijing reached 74.56 million tons by the end of October, said Yin Yong, the vice-mayor of Beijing.

Industry leaders who attended the forum agreed that green finance can play two important roles in the transition to carbon neutrality: It helps mobilize and channel money into a low-carbon economic transition, and it brings more transparency to the risks of non-green finance that financial institutions and investors must address because of climate change.

The HKSAR is willing to cooperate with Beijing in developing green finance, said Christopher Hui Ching-yu, the secretary for financial services and the treasury of the HKSAR government.

"Hong Kong is a world finance center with a huge finance market, complete regulation system, advanced green finance licensing institutes and numerous investors. We hope we can become the top financing platform for green finance enterprises and projects," said Hui.

According to a study from Tsinghua University, China needs to invest $21 trillion to achieve the carbon neutrality target by 2060, which creates a huge opportunity for its green finance sector to mobilize investment and help the country achieve its climate target.