“GREEN” FINANCE IN BRICS COUNTRIES

Abstract

The article reviews the “green” financing policy in the BRICS countries. The analysis revealed that all of them have integrated “green” finance in their national strategies. Central banks and other financial regulators, ministries of ecology and finance, and especially development financial institutions (DFI) of these countries take an active part in establishing legislative framework for “green” finance and creating “green” infrastructure, though with different level of success. Analysis of the regulatory documents and statistical data proves the leading position of China. Thanks to its strict and, at the same time, stimulating regulation and supervision China has achieved the impressive results in increasing the volume of “green” loans as well as “green” bonds. China national “green” taxonomy (1st edition in 2015) has evaluated significantly during the last years, moving closer to the international standards. Other countries also make strong efforts in “greening” their financial systems. Brazil and India “green” bonds cumulative issues, estimated by the authors, reached in 2020 about 10 billion dollars each. The largest part of these resources is directed to renewable energy projects, and in case of Brazil also to lower deforestation. In recent years Russia did a lot to establish the legislative framework and to adopt the national taxonomy for “green” financing. But, as it is argued in the article, implementation lags behind policies and regulation. At the same time, the regulation itself still needs to be improved. According to available data on cumulative issues of “green” bonds, Russia takes the 4th place after China, Brazil and India. To make more progress the country needs to continue unified efforts of all participants of the Russian “green” finance market, including civil society. At the last BRICS summit all countries confirmed the promotion of the consolidated position on the “green” and responsible financing, with sharing best practice and developing mutually beneficial cooperation that can be helpful for all members to achieve national environmental objectives.