How to avoid and solve social-environmental conflicts in international project financing has been a main concern of international bilateral and multilateral financing institutes, governments, investors, local communities and NGOs. Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is an independent accountability institution. This handbook was compiled by Greennovation Hub, aiming to help the public to learn more regarding the functions, complaint process, dispute settlement cases, and other relevant mechanisms of CAO.

This study presents seven case studies of Chinese bank financing for overseas investments and analyzes these transactions to determine the extent to which banks have implemented Article 21 of the Green Credit Guidelines, China’s innovative sustainable finance policy. Evidence suggests that widespread problems in bank compliance with Article 21 of the GCG exist. The case studies indicate that Chinese banks lack transparency and sufficient methods of engaging with the public, practices which reduce their access to beneficial information and input that could improve their GCG compliance, and the report concludes with several recommendations, including one that Chinese embassies abroad take a proactive role to ensure compliance with Article 21 of the GCG.

Land constitutes 29% of the earth’s surface and nearly 13% of it is protected, while high seas account for 43% of the earth’s surface and less than 1% of them are fully protected. As the marine environment has been rapidly deteriorating in recent years, we call for in this report the establishment of the world’s largest marine protected area (MPA) in the Antarctic Ocean, which makes up 10% of the ocean in our living planet and is the world’s last pristine wilderness. The report depicts the productive yet fragile ecosystem in the Antarctic Ocean and potential threats to it arising from climate change and commercial fishing. The report elaborates on the function of Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resource (CCAMLR), its precautionary approach of management and the progress of marine conservation in the Antarctic Ocean. It documents the development of the international dialogue pertaining to Ross Sea and East Antarctic MPA proposals among 25 members of CCAMLR and makes responses from NGO’s perspective to the main concerns of the countries that are not in support of the proposals.

The Guangdong Ecological Livable City project was initiated and designed by Greenovation Hub and the Environmental Institute of the School of Philanthropy at Sun Yat-Sen University. This is the first report on eco-friendly and livable cities initiated and completed by a non-government organization (NGO) in China. Based on the data analysis and questionnaires conducted in 21 prefecture-level cities of Guangdong Province, the researchers have demonstrated the relationship between urban growth and environment and climate resilience. Based on this research, a ranking and assessment of each city has also been done. The purpose of the project is to promote city development which has an eco-friendly approach and contributes to the achievement of low carbon development. The project also aims to encourage the joint efforts of local government and the public in achieving these goals, and shares rankings and information about best practices in order to promote healthy competition between the cities covered by the project.