The International Green Finance Lifetime Achievement Scientific Award is given to a non-Hungarian professional who has contributed to the development of the scientific study and implementation of green finance in sustainable management with internationally relevant, globally significant, pioneering research results. The Governor of the MNB decides on the winner. The Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded annually by the MNB between 2021 and 2023, and then changed to a biennial frequency, so that the next winner will be awarded in 2025. The International Green Finance Lifetime Achievement Scientific Award is given to a non-Hungarian professional who has contributed to the development of the scientific study and implementation of green finance in sustainable management with internationally relevant, globally significant, pioneering research results. The Governor of the MNB decides on the winner. The Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded annually by the MNB between 2021 and 2023, and then changed to a biennial frequency, so that the next winner will be awarded in 2025.
Winner of the International Green Finance Lifetime Achievement Scientific Award, 2023
Ma Jun
In 2023, the International Green Finance Lifetime Achievement Scientific Award was awarded to Ma Jun, Founder and President of the Institute of Finance and Sustainability (IFS) based in Beijing. Ma Jun is Chairman of the Green Finance Committee of the China Society for Finance and Banking, Co-Chairman of the G20 Sustainable Finance Study Group, Chairman and President of the Hong Kong Green Finance Association and President of the Beijing Green Finance Association. Unlike in previous years, in 2023 the award ceremony for the Lifetime Achievement Award took place at the Budapest Eurasia Forum.
Winner of the International Green Finance Lifetime Achievement Scientific Award, 2022
Sean Kidney
The 2022 International Green Finance Lifetime Achievement Scientific Award went to Sean Kidney, co-founding CEO of the Climate
Bonds Initiative and Professor at the SOAS Centre for Sustainable Finance, who serves on numerous green finance boards and
committees around the world. These sustainable finance-focused bodies include the EU Technical Expert Group, the People's
Bank of China Green Finance Task Force, the European Commission's High Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance and expert
groups from a number of countries (including Kazakhstan and Congo). The expert, who previously served as an advisor to the
UN Secretary General, was named ‘2016 Personality of the Year’ by Environmental Finance magazine.
Winner of the International Green Finance Lifetime Achievement Scientific Award, 2021
Naoyuki Yoshino
The 2021 International Green Finance Lifetime Achievement Scientific Award went to Naoyuki Yoshino, Professor Emeritus at Keio University in Tokyo. He received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in the US. Previously, he was Dean of the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) and Director of the Financial Research Center (FSA Institute) of the Japan Financial Services Agency's (FSA). His work has led to breakthroughs in the academic study of green finance.