Professor Stephen Minas delivered a speech at the 2025 PBCIFC

STL Professor Stephen Minas recently participated in the 2025 Pearl Bay Climate Investment and Financing Conference (PBCIFC), held in Guangzhou’s Nansha. The conference brought together hundreds of guest from China and abroad to discuss opportunities to strengthen climate finance work. The conference heard from leaders including Vice Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment Li Gao, Deputy Director of Xianhua News Agency Liu Jian, Vice Governor of Guangdong Zhang Shaokan and Guangzhou Mayor Sun Zhiyang.

Dr Minas participated in a panel discussion on the topic ‘Global Synergy: Climate Investment and Financing Fuelling New Quality Productive Forces’. The panel was moderated by Liu Jintao, Deputy Director of the Research Cooperation Department, Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University. Other panelists included Bai Ming, Research Fellow and Member of the Academic Degree Committee, Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China; Shen Shuangbo, COO of China Chengxin Green Finance International; Aliya Kydyrbekova, Director of China and South Asia Business, Astana International Financial Centre, Kazakhstan; and Gilvan Vieira Bueno Costa, Professor of Executive Education, Business School, São Paulo, Brazil.

In his remarks, Dr Minas discussed the outcomes of the recent COP30 conference in Brazil and progress in cooperation on common green finance standards and international carbon market mechanisms. He also noted near-term opportunities to strengthen collaborations between Guangdong and international partners, including in the context of the 2026 APEC meetings to be hosted in Shenzhen.