News

China SIF and NorSIF Jointly Host Webinar on European ESG Dynamics and Nordic Sustainable Finance Practice

Author : China SIF

Update time : 2026-06-25 19:31:00

On 10 June 2026, China SIF (China Sustainable Investment Forum) and NorSIF co-hosted an online seminar on “Beyond the Backlash: Climate Risk and the Future of ESG” . The event was the first of two joint sessions the two forums agreed to organise at the start of 2026, focusing on the so-called “ESG backlash,” regulatory developments in European sustainable finance, and approaches to quantifying and managing climate risk. Practitioners and institutional investors from China, Norway and across Europe took part in the event.
The session began with brief opening remarks from China SIF Chairman Dr. Peiyuan Guo and NorSIF Chair Lars Erik Mangset. Dr. Guo thanked NorSIF for its longstanding partnership and invited participants to the upcoming China SIF Summer Summit (10 July 2026, Beijing) and Annual Conference (1 December 2026, Beijing).

Line Aske, Subject Matter Expert on Sustainable Finance at DNB, then shared her views on the ESG backlash and the latest developments in the EU disclosure framework revision. She noted that the so-called ESG backlash is not a rejection of sustainability itself, but rather reflects a transition to a more mature and demanding phase. “We are not moving away from the ambitions, but we are moving towards more focus on execution, prioritisation, trade-offs and cost-benefit considerations.” On the EU regulatory overhaul, Line Aske explained that the framework is being simplified, with the number of companies covered by CSRD reduced by 80% and reporting requirements scaled back. Overall, the direction of travel is from disclosure-driven to impact-driven sustainable finance, with less complexity and more pragmatism.

In his keynote presentation, Lars Erik Mangset addressed whether capital is truly leaving ESG. Citing empirical data, he noted that while inflows into sustainable funds have slowed since 2022, with 2025 seeing net outflows, approximately four trillion US dollars remain in ESG funds. “Investors have not given up, but they have become more cautious.” He also analysed how Europe is increasingly linking sustainability with strategic resilience and industrial competitiveness, with policies such as the Clean Industrial Deal, REPowerEU and the Critical Raw Materials Act reshaping the risk and opportunity landscape for investors.

Gjermund Grimsby, Chief Advisor on Climate Change at KLP, Norway’s largest private pension fund managing over 100 billion US dollars, shared the fund’s practical experience in tackling the complexity of climate risk through scenario analysis. “Our analysis indicates that under a high-warming scenario, KLP’s investment portfolio may be as much as 15% less in value by 2050 compared to a scenario in which global warming is limited to below two degrees.” He stressed that climate change is a global systemic issue driven by multiple market failures, and cannot be resolved by any single investor acting alone — it requires coordinated policy action across countries to drive the necessary energy transition.
The webinar concluded with a lively Q&A session. China SIF and NorSIF plan to hold the second session in the series in August or September 2026, focusing on China’s green transition and climate policy developments, offering Nordic peers a first-hand Chinese perspective. China SIF was launched by SynTao Green Finance in 2012 to promote ESG and provide a platform for exchange and dialogue on sustainable investment in China. NorSIF is an independent association of asset owners, asset managers, service providers and industry associations dedicated to advancing responsible and sustainable investment in the Norwegian and Nordic markets.

The full recording of the webinar is now available on SynTao Green Finance’s ESG Online Course Platform on WeChat, accessible free of charge to the members.