China.org.cn | October 15, 2024
Xing Huina:
Due to time constraints, we'll take one last question, please.
National Business Daily:
Green finance has become a hot topic as China pursues its dual carbon goals: peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality by 2060. What work has the PBC done to promote innovation in financial products and services supporting the transition to green and low-carbon development? Thank you.
Lu Lei:
Thank you for your important question. I will answer it. As we all know, green development is a defining feature of high-quality development. The concept of green development is rich and multifaceted. We've preliminarily summarized that it encompasses many areas, including industrial restructuring, climate change response, pollution prevention and control, and eco-environmental protection. Therefore, it has broad development prospects. Due to the extensive prospects and the many areas involved, green development naturally has a strong demand for funding. Therefore, we might say green finance represents a new type of supply-demand relationship formed in the financial sector as a result of green development.
Focusing on green finance, the PBC has upheld the principle of "establishing the new before abolishing the old," supporting the faster accumulation of financial resources in green and low-carbon areas. First, we've enhanced policy guidance. This year, we took the lead in introducing the "Guidance on Strengthening Financial Support for Green and Low-Carbon Development." This document specifies goals and concrete measures for optimizing the standards system, strengthening information disclosure, and promoting product and market development. In addition, we've also leveraged green financial products like green loans and bonds, utilizing carbon-reduction support tools to provide more funding for the development of green industries. As of the end of the second quarter, China's green loan balance reached 34.76 trillion yuan, up 28.5% year on year. The carbon-reduction support tool has driven over 1.1 trillion yuan in carbon-reduction loans. The balance of green bonds stood at 1.99 trillion yuan, with cumulative issuance exceeding 3.7 trillion yuan. Simultaneously, we've strengthened interdepartmental cooperation, establishing a working mechanism for green financial services to support building a beautiful China. We've enhanced interdepartmental and cross-sector coordination and cooperation among industrial and financial departments and market entities, jointly promoting the green and low-carbon transition of economic and social development.
As far as I'm concerned, interdepartmental coordination and cooperation are crucial. The financial sector, other relevant departments and market entities should all work together.
After our recent work, we've identified effective ways to develop green finance, which we summarize as "two foundations and three key elements." The "two foundations" are: first, accelerating the development of emerging green industries and second, promoting the green transition of traditional industries. The "three key elements" refer to effective monetary and credit policies, financial market instruments, and interdepartmental coordination. These will constitute the focus of our follow-up work.
First, we'll refine the policy system. In accordance with the overall requirements for building a beautiful China, we'll introduce a series of green finance policies and arrangements. We'll expand the scope of carbon reduction support tools, extend the validity period of policies, and increase the scale of re-lending to provide more low-cost funding for green development and low-carbon transition. We'll include financial institutions' support for green and low-carbon development in our green finance assessment framework. By strengthening the application of assessment results, we aim to guide more financial resources toward green and low-carbon development.
Second, we'll expand financial market instruments. We'll build a high-standard green bond market, strengthening management of green bond issuance, duration and third-party evaluations. We'll particularly focus on preventing the greenwashing of financial bonds. We'll further diversify green bond types and broaden financing channels for green industries.
Third, we'll strengthen interdepartmental coordination. We'll establish and improve a regular information-sharing mechanism and refine the support system for green finance policies. We aim to enhance the systematicity, consistency, authority, and enforceability of green finance standards.
That's all I have to say about green finance. Thank you.
Xing Huina:
Today's briefing is hereby concluded. Thanks to all the speakers and to all our media friends for participating. Goodbye, everyone.
Translated and edited by Wang Ziteng, Wang Wei, Gong Yingchun, Ma Yujia, Mi Xingang, Zhou Jing, Liao Jiaxin, Liu Sitong, Yan Xiaoqing, Zhang Rui, Zhang Tingting, Li Huiru, Xu Kailin, David Ball, Rochelle Beiersdorfer, and Jay Birbeck. In case of any discrepancy between the English and Chinese texts, the Chinese version is deemed to prevail.