Abstract: The emergence of the equator principles at the beginning of twenty-first Century has led to the establishment of the environmental and social responsibilities of financial institutions, which has developed into the industrial practices in global financial industry. Through investigation and reflection on the legislation of environmental and social responsibility of China’s financial institutions, it can be seen that there is a huge gap between the equator principles and the existing green credit system in such areas as the environmental protection concepts and legal system design. Therefore, we should reconstruct the environmental and social responsibilities of China’s financial institutions in such aspects as the scope of application, the coordination of the relationship between the supervision departments, the clear financing procedures, and the coordinated relationship between the equator principles and the green credit, so as to make the equator principles become the strategic choice and development direction of the environmental and social responsibilities of China’s financial institutions.

Key words: equator principles; green credit; financial institution; environmental and social responsibility