莱斯利·马斯多普：新开发银行资助的每一个项目都以可持续的方式实施|ESG_新浪财经

新浪财经·ESG | 意见领袖　

　　由新浪财经ESG频道牵头发起，联合中信出版集团共同主办的ESG全球领导者峰会将于2021年8月26日隆重举行。本次峰会以“聚焦ESG发展，共议低碳可持续新未来”为主题，邀请具有全球影响力的国际组织、投资机构、商业银行、知名企业及权威学者，立足ESG投资理论、实践，就可持续发展领域议题加强沟通与探索。

　　2021年8月，新开发银行副行长兼首席财务官莱斯利·马斯多普（Leslie Maasdorp）先生接受了新浪财经ESG频道的访谈，就ESG投资实践，新开发银行可持续投资经验，ESG专业人才培养等话题发表见解。

　　莱斯利·马斯多普先生现任新开发银行副行长及首席财务官，负责银行的司库、投资组合管理、财务和会计职能。在过去的25年里，马斯多普先生在私人和公共部门担任高级领导职务。

　　以下为本次访谈实录：

　　新浪财经：五年前，也就是2017年，新开发银行发布了《2017-2021新开发银行总体战略》，支持可持续基础设施发展。今年是《总体战略》的收官之年。在过去的五年里，新开发银行在可持续发展投资方面取得了哪些成果？收获了哪些经验？在这个过程中，中国作为金砖国家之一发挥了怎样的作用？

　　莱斯利·马斯多普：新开发银行于2015年成立，当时全球对可持续发展的认知正在普遍提高。可以说，新开发银行的DNA中就蕴含了可持续性。新开发银行的创始文件，《新开发银行的协定》，授权本行为支持可持续的基础设施发展提供资金，也为我行的所有业务和资本市场活动提供了明确的政策指导。正如大家所知，2015年9月各国通过了可持续发展目标（SDGs），三个月后又达成了巴黎协定。这些具有里程碑意义的时刻也为我行采取的绿色、可持续和低碳政策奠定了基础。

　　因此，新开发银行在2016年4月宣布其首批五个项目都是绿色和可再生的，这并不令人惊讶。同年，在获得中国AAA信用评级后，新开发银行发行了第一笔绿色债券，这也巩固了我们银行的可持续性。我行从概念设计阶段评估项目时，ESG就是我们投资标准的核心。我行还整理并报告了每个项目与相关可持续发展目标的一致性。总的来说，我们资助的每一个项目都是以可持续的方式实施的，并且在项目实施过程中我们也评估、最小化和缓解其ESG负面影响。

　　中国的监管机构，特别是中国人民银行（PBOC）和中国银行间市场交易商协会（NAFMII）在促进绿色债券市场的发展方面发挥了重要作用，它们发布了一致的指导方针，为像新开发银行这样的机构发行绿色债券创造了有利的环境。新开发银行已经成为中国在岸市场上最大的熊猫债发行人，注册额度为200亿人民币。2021年，新开发银行与联合国开发计划署合作，在中国国内市场成功发行了首支可持续发展目标债券。

　　我行的目标是成为可持续金融的领导者，并将继续探索可持续的新债券发行，比如我们将为投资水资源领域业务发行蓝色债券。目前，新开发银行在中国的贷款组合非常多样化，包括太阳能发电、离岸风力发电、低碳重组项目、与水有关的项目等，这些都符合我们的ESG标准。

　　新浪财经：我们了解到，新开发银行7月份在国际资本市场上发行了价值22.5亿美元的三年期可持续债券，这是新开发银行在国际资本市场上发行美元债券的第四次也是最大的一次行动。能否简单分享一下关于新开发银行如何通过发行绿色债券促进全球可持续发展？

　　莱斯利·马斯多普：新开发银行致力于以绿色和可持续的形式开展其大部分国内和国际资本市场活动。我行最近发行的美元债券被贴上了“可持续”和“流行病支持债券”的标签，因为发债的净收益将用于支持可持续发展活动和提供紧急支持贷款，以使发行人的成员国经济复苏。2020年3月，新开发银行承诺提供总额为100亿美元的危机相关援助资金，为卫生和社会安全支出提供支援，以及支持成员国经济复苏。

　　除美元债券外，新开发银行于2021年3月在中国银行间债券市场发行了50亿元人民币的可持续发展目标债券。可持续发展目标（SDG）债券是根据联合国开发计划署（UNDP）“可持续发展目标债券影响力标准”和《可持续发展投融资支持项目目录（中国）》相关标准发行的。新开发银行很荣幸成为在债务资本市场上使用这两个标准的第一个试点发行者。

　　为了将其投融资能力提升到下一个阶段，新开发银行建立了《可持续投融资政策框架》，为我行定调了绿色、可持续和ESG债券发行收益的使用和管理方面的原则。银行的目标是在此框架下指导所有ESG债券的发行，并与国际资本市场协会（ICMA）的标准保持一致。全球对ESG债务工具有很大的需求，新开发银行将与其他多边开发银行一道，填补这一空白。

　　新浪财经：除了发行可持续债券外，新开发银行采取了哪些措施和行动来动员金砖国家的私营部门参与ESG实践？能否介绍一下中国投资机构和企业的ESG表现？

　　莱斯利·马斯多普：新开发银行努力通过各种渠道向成员国传播其ESG治理的经验和知识。2020年，新开发银行完成了对所有五个成员国的环境、社会和采购国家体系的一系列审查，并与各国的监管机构和政府机构一道研究并传播了审查结果。新开发银行还为其在所有成员国的客户举办了一系列的信息传播和能力建设研讨班，内容涉及银行资助项目中的环境、社会和采购的风险管理等。这些专题研讨班集中讨论了国家系统的要求、新开发银行的核心政策要求以及国家系统和新开发银行政策要求之间有差距、且需要人为干涉的那些领域。

　　在私营部门方面，新开发银行正在构建我们在成员国的私营部门贷款组合，以补充现有的主权贷款组合。在这个过程中，新开发银行打算加强与和基础设施建设相关的国家的联系，并从涉及重大ESG考虑的项目中吸取经验。

　　新浪财经：在后疫情时代，可持续发展、ESG投资和国际合作已经成为国际上共同关注的话题。而很多人已经意识到，目前具有多元背景的ESG人才供给不足。今年5月，您在厦门火炬大学成立仪式上的讲话也提到了培养人才和促进创新。您能否和我们分享一下您对中国ESG人才发展的建议和期望？

　　莱斯利·马斯多普：在新开发银行的第二个五年总体战略中，我行承诺吸引、培养和留住人才，以继续将新开发银行建设成为一个人才密集型机构。我们将在人力资源部下设立人才管理部门，专门负责这一目标。

　　对于新开发银行来说，人才发展目标就是通过培育年轻人投资未来。作为一家年轻的银行，新开发银行有优势建立独特的高成就人才库，并鼓励他们质疑现状，并且用新的想法和方法探索未知的领域。在这个意义上，NDB的目标是将我们的青年劳动力（目前的平均年龄为32岁）作为竞争优势。

　　新开发银行旨在成为ESG人才的理想家园。银行正在设立一个新的ESG部门，我们欢迎来自所有相关学科的ESG专业人士，包括金融、资金、风险、投资运营、法律和合规等。例如，我们的资金团队正在密切关注全球资本市场的趋势，以探索可持续金融的新领域。

　　新浪财经：最后，我们再来看看新开发银行的下一个五年战略。与《2017-2021年总体战略》相比，新开发银行在ESG领域的观点和发展战略是什么？将重点布局哪个方向？

　　莱斯利·马斯多普：随着贷款组合的不断丰富和关注银行业务的可持续性逐渐主流化，新开发银行及其股东非常重视通过确保新开发银行资助项目的可持续性和将整个行业的最佳做法复制到我们的项目中来推动我行的可持续发展成果。

　　新开发银行将设立新的ESG部门，加强履行我行对符合我们成员国家制度的环境和社会标准的承诺，并将为应对打击不平等和气候变化的全球挑战做出贡献。新开发银行的目标是使可持续性和ESG考虑成为贯穿我行活动各个方面的主题。

　　An Interview Transcript is as follow：

　　SINA FINANCE： Five years ago in 2017， NDB issued its General Strategy 2017-2021 to support sustainable infrastructure development． This year is the closing year of the General Strategy． In the past five years， what experience and success have NDB achieved in its sustainable development investment？ And what role did China play during this process？

　　Leslie Maasdorp： The New Development Bank was started in 2015 at a time of heightened global awareness about sustainability． The Bank has sustainability hard-coded in its DNA． The founding documents of the NDB， called the ‘Articles of Agreement’ mandates the Bank to finance sustainable infrastructure and therefore gives unequivocal policy guidance to all the operations as well as the capital markets activities of the institution． As we know the global community adopted the Sustainable Development Goals （SDG’s） in September 2015 and three months later in December 2015， the historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change was signed． These landmark moments laid the basis for the green， sustainable and low carbon policies adopted by the Bank．

　　It came as no surprise therefore that the NDB announced in April 2016， that its first five projects were all green and renewable． In the same year， after obtaining a AAA credit rating in China， NDB issued its first Bond as a Green Bond， which cemented the sustainability credentials of the institution． ESG is central to the investment criteria when the Bank assesses its projects from the concept stage． The Bank maps and reports the alignment of each of its projects with the relevant SDGs． Overall， every project which we finance is implemented in a sustainable way and their ESG impacts are assessed， minimized and mitigated during project implementation．

　　Chinese regulators， most notably the People’s Bank of China （PBOC） and NAFMII played a vital role in enabling the development of the Green Bond market by issuing coherent guidelines which created an enabling environment for institutions like NDB to issue green bonds． NDB has become the largest issuer of Panda Bonds in the China onshore market with a registered program of RMB20bn． In 2021， NDB successfully issued the first SDG Bond in China domestic market， in partnership with UNDP．

　　The Bank aims to be a leader in sustainable finance and will explore new bond issuances in the sustainable format including blue bonds to finance our investment operations in the water sector． Currently， the NDB’s China portfolio consists of diversified loans including solar power， off-shore wind power， low-carbon restructuring projects， water-related projects which all fit in the ESG criteria of the Bank．

　　SINA FINANCE： We have learned that NDB issued three-year sustainable bonds worth $2.25 billion in international capital markets in July， and this was the bank’s fourth and largest operation to place dollar bonds in international capital markets． Would it be possible to share briefly regarding how NDB promotes global sustainable development through raising green bonds？

　　Leslie Maasdorp： NDB is committed to do most of its domestic and international capital markets activities in the green and sustainable format． The most recent dollar bond issuances of the Bank were labeled as sustainable and ‘pandemic support bond’ as the net proceeds will be used for financing sustainable development activities and providing emergency support loans to enable the economic recovery in the Issuer‘s member countries． In March 2020， NDB pledged a total of USD 10 billion in crisis-related assistance including health and social safety expenditures， as well as supporting member states’ economic recovery．

　　In addition to the USD dollar bond， NDB issued an RMB 5billion Sustainable Development Goal bond in the China interbank bond market in March 2021． The Sustainable Development Goals （SDG） bond was issued under the UNDP Sustainable Development Goals Impact Standards for Bonds （UNDP SDG Standard） as well as the SDG Finance Taxonomy （China）． NDB is proud to be the first pilot issuer to use the UNDP SDG Standard as well as the SDG Finance Taxonomy （China） in the Debt Capital Market．

　　To advance its funding capabilities to the next stage， NDB has established the Sustainable Financing Policy Framework （“Framework”） which describes the Bank’s principles in governing the use and management of the proceeds of Green， Sustainability or ESG bonds issuance． The Bank aims to guide all the ESG bond issuance under this Framework and to be ICMA standard aligned． There is massive appetite globally for the ESG debt instruments and NDB， along with other MDBs， aims to be the pioneer to fill this gap．

　　SINA FINANCE： In addition to the issuance of sustainable bonds， what measures and actions NDB has taken to mobilize private sectors in BRICS countries to participate in ESG practice？ Could you introduce the ESG performance of Chinese investment institutions and enterprises？

　　Leslie Maasdorp： NDB endeavors to disseminate its ESG experience and knowledge to the member countries through various channels． In 2020， NDB completed a series of reviews of environmental， social and procurement country systems of all five member countries and engaged with countries’ regulatory agencies and government agencies for consultations and dissemination of the studies’ findings． NDB also conducted a series of ten information dissemination and capacity-building workshops for its clients in all member countries on managing environmental， social and procurement risks in projects financed by the Bank． These thematic workshops concentrated on the use of country systems， NDB’s core policy requirements and areas that require further interventions to bridge the gaps between country systems and NDB’s policy requirements．

　　In terms of private sector， NDB is in the process to build up its private sector portfolio in member countries， to complement its existing portfolio of sovereign loans． In the process， NDB intends to strengthen its links with relevant national and global players in the infrastructure sector to help draw experience from projects that entail significant ESG considerations．

　　SINA FINANCE： In the post-epidemic era， sustainable development， ESG investment and international cooperation have become topics of common concern internationally． And many people have been aware of the current insufficient supply of ESG talents with multiple backgrounds． In May， your remarks on establishment ceremony of Xiamen Torch Academy also mentioned nurturing talent and promoting innovation． Could you share with us your suggestions and expectations for ESG talent development in China？

　　Leslie Maasdorp： In the NDB’s 2nd 5-year general strategy， the Bank has committed to attract， nurture， and retain talents so as to continue building NDB into a talent-intensive Institution． A Talent Management Division under the Human Resources Department will be set up and dedicated to this goal．

　　For NDB， talent development is about investment in the future via nurturing the youth． As a young bank， NDB has the advantage to build up its unique talent pool of young high-achieving individuals who are encouraged to question the status quo and explore new frontiers by developing new ideas and approaches． In this sense， NDB aims to use its young workforce， with current average age of 32， as a competitive advantage．

　　NDB is designed to be an ideal home for ESG talent． The Bank is setting up a new ESG department which will aim to attract ESG professionals from all the relevant disciplines including finance， treasury， risk， investment operations， legal and compliance． Our Treasury team for example are closely monitoring the trends in the global capital markets to explore new frontiers in sustainable finance．

　　SINA FINANCE： Finally， Let‘s go back to NDB’s next five-year strategy． Compared with General Strategy 2017-2021， what is NDB’s view and growth trajectory in terms of ESG？ Which direction will the focus be laid out？

　　Leslie Maasdorp： With the growing portfolio and focus towards mainstreaming sustainability in the Bank’s operations， NDB and its shareholders assign great value to enhancing the Bank’s development results via ensuring sustainability of NDB-funded projects and replicating best practices from across the industry into our projects．

　　NDB’s creation of a new ESG Department will reinforce the Bank’s commitment to environmental and social standards that are in line with our members’ country systems and will contribute to addressing global challenges of combating inequality and climate change． NDB aims to make sustainability and ESG considerations cross-cutting themes across the various aspects of Bank’s activities．

　　关于新浪财经·ESG频道

　　新浪财经ESG频道是业内首个中文ESG专业聚合频道，致力于宣传和推广可持续发展，责任投资，与ESG（环境、社会和公司治理）价值理念，传播ESG的企业实践行动和榜样力量，并推动中国ESG事业的发展。点击进入新浪财经-ESG频道。