International Monetary Forum 2022 Event Series No. 1: Press Conference on “RMB Internationalization Report 2022” and Roundtable on Money and Finance was successfully held online on July 23rd in the summer of 2022. The event was co-hosted by School of Finance, Renmin University of China (RUC) and International Monetary Research Institute (IMI), RUC, and sponsored by Chongyang investment Education Fund. Wang Fang, Deputy Director of IMI and Associate Dean of School of Finance, RUC, announced the “RMB Internationalization Report 2022: Opportunities and Challenges in Low-Carbon Development (hereafter the Report)”. Zhuang Yumin, Chairman of IMI and Dean, School of Finance, RUC, gave a welcome speech. Ben Shenglin, Co-director of IMI, Dean, Zhejiang University International Business School and Academy of Internet Finance presided over the session.

Zhuang Yumin made an opening speech for the forum. After welcoming and thanking the guests, she pointed out that the low-carbon (or green) economy was one of the inherent requirements for Chinese economy to achieve high quality growth. In the long run, low-carbon economy will strengthen the hard and soft power of RMB, especially improve RMB’s international currency function. However, Chinese economic transformation and structural optimization still remained arduous. In the short term, China will face aggravated pressure from economic and low-carbon growth.

Wang Fang announced the Report and interpreted it in the following three points. First, there was steady progress in RMB internationalization as more and more recognitions were received from the international market. The RMB’s role as an international currency was strengthened as now it ranked top among the world’s major currencies. Second, from the relationship between low-carbon development and RMB internationalization, it is a prerequisite for China to develop low-carbon economy to cope with climate change, and the only way for China’s economy to achieve sustainable and high-quality growth. Adopting low-carbon economic growth, which is a great opportunity to stabilize RMB internationalization, will help enhance both the hard and the soft power of RMB. However, China’s current resource limits and development phase made carbon emission reduction in China difficult. If costs to reducing emission remained high, China’s economy would be exposed to increasing risks in transformation, thus hampering its economic growth. The carbon peak and carbon neutrality targets and the RMB internationalization would be harder to achieve. Thirdly, major difficulties in promoting China’s low-carbon transformation should be properly dealt with. A policy system needs to be built to support China’s low-carbon development. Besides, a mechanism to promote work, supervise and assess needs to be built under a new cooperation mode: the Chinese government will take the lead to establish platforms while the market plays the major role. Chinese real economy and financial system need to undergo low-carbon transformation to better face future risks and challenges. The carbon market reform is an opportunity for China to open and improve its carbon market and compete for carbon pricing in the future market. Furthermore, developing low-carbon economy requires timely global governance reform. China will play a more active role in promoting low-carbon investment in the Belt and Road Initiative, coordinating green and low-carbon policy and bridging global governance gap. The research group stressed that it is necessary to fully understand the necessity and urgency of low-carbon transformation and the impact of the double reduction policy brought to industrial structure, economic growth and RMB internationalization. Generally speaking, the long-term benefits of low-carbon development outweigh the costs to reducing carbon emissions in the short term and the risks in the transformation in the middle term.

In the roundtable discussion, financial professionals from industry and academia expressed their views on the theme of “Opportunities and Challenges in Low-Carbon Development”. Speakers include Cao Tong, Chairman of Shanghai Huarui Bank, Chen Weidong, Dean, Academy of Bank of China, Ding Jianping, Deputy Director, Shanghai Institute of International Finance Center; Director, Research Center for Modern Finance, SHUFE, E Zhihuan, Chief Economist, Bank of China (Hong Kong), Guo Jianwei, Editor-in-Chief, China Financial Publishing House, Qu Fengjie, Member of Academic Committee, Institute of International Economic Research, NDRC, Tan Xiaofen, Professor at the School of Finance, Central University of Finance and Economics, and Zhu Mengnan, Director of the Financial Research Center and dean of the School of Continuing Education, Xiamen University.