MRV System Design: Recommendations for Chinese Green Bonds

The report finds that while China has a strong foundation for green bond reporting, quality varies significantly by bond type and regulatory regime, with financial bonds and offshore issuances performing best. It highlights a lack of standardization in environmental impact reporting and inconsistent external verification, particularly for enterprise bonds. To address these gaps, the report recommends mandatory environmental impact reporting, the creation of a standardized reporting template, the full implementation of an accreditation model for verifiers, and the establishment of a central data platform.

• Reporting quality for Chinese green bonds varies by instrument type, with financial bond issuances showing the highest average quality, followed by mid-term notes. Conversely, asset-backed securities (ABS), corporate bonds, and enterprise bonds—the latter of which have no reporting mandate—demonstrate poor reporting quality.
• Offshore green bonds generally exhibit higher transparency and more granular reporting than onshore issuances, indicating that Chinese issuers are capable of meeting the more stringent expectations of international investors.
• Public access to green bond information in China is limited. Out of 387 reviewed issuances, 10% had no publicly available information, and only 32 of 270 issuances prior to September 2018 provided both pre- and post-issuance documents on the issuer's own website.
• External reviews are applied inconsistently across bond types due to differing regulatory requirements. While 73% of onshore green bonds by value received pre-issuance external review, only 59% by value had post-issuance verification available.
• China's MRV system lacks the depth and standardization found in international frameworks like the EU-GBS or ASEAN GBS, particularly regarding the disclosure of project refinancing details and the use of standardized templates for environmental impact metrics.
• International accounting firms, specifically the "Big Four" (KPMG, EY, PwC, Deloitte), hold a significant share of the external review market in China, accounting for 59% of all bonds with verification by amount (USD 53 bn).

APA

Escalante, D., Choi, J., Chin, N., Cui, Y., & Larsen, M. L. (2020). MRV System Design: Recommendations for Chinese Green Bonds. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/MRV-System-Design-Recommendations-for-Green-Bonds-in-China.pdf

Chicago

Escalante, Donovan, June Choi, Neil Chin, Ying Cui, and Mathias Lund Larsen. MRV System Design: Recommendations for Chinese Green Bonds. Climate Policy Initiative, 2020. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/MRV-System-Design-Recommendations-for-Green-Bonds-in-China.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Escalante |first1=Donovan |last2=Choi |first2=June |last3=Chin |first3=Neil |last4=Cui |first4=Ying |last5=Larsen |first5=Mathias Lund |title=MRV System Design: Recommendations for Chinese Green Bonds |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=June 2020 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/MRV-System-Design-Recommendations-for-Green-Bonds-in-China.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{escalante2020mrv, author = {Escalante, Donovan and Choi, June and Chin, Neil and Cui, Ying and Larsen, Mathias Lund}, title = {{MRV System Design: Recommendations for Chinese Green Bonds}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2020}, month = jun, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/MRV-System-Design-Recommendations-for-Green-Bonds-in-China.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }