Play a good green finance "first move"
Our reporter Guo Ziyuan
In recent years, my country's green loans have made positive progress.
As of the end of the third quarter of 2021, my country's domestic and foreign currency green loan balance was 14.78 trillion yuan, an increase of 27.9% year-on-year, which was 16.5% higher than the growth rate of various loans; the non-performing rate of green loans was lower than the national average non-performing rate of commercial banks.
At the same time, green loans still have shortcomings, especially support for clean energy needs to be strengthened.
In addition, in the field of green bonds and green insurance, many issues remain to be solved, such as further reducing the cost of green bond issuance and increasing the coverage of "climate risk" insurance products.
To this end, many people in the industry suggested that green finance should start from the three aspects of credit, bonds, and insurance. In view of the shortcomings in their respective fields, they should focus on three “first moves” and make greater efforts to support the realization of the “30·60 target”. contribute.
Increase clean energy credit support
On November 17, the executive meeting of the State Council decided to set up a special reloan of 200 billion yuan to support the clean and efficient use of coal based on the establishment of financial support tools for carbon emission reduction in the early stage.
What is the purpose of setting up this special reloan?
This is related to my country's energy resource endowment, which is dominated by coal.
Faced with this actual national condition, it is necessary to improve the level of clean and efficient use of coal.
In this process, the proportion of clean energy will gradually increase.
But in contrast to green credit, as of the end of the third quarter of this year, the clean energy industry loan balance was 3.79 trillion yuan, accounting for less than 27%, and there is a lot of room for improvement.
How to improve?
“From the perspective of emission reduction potential, energy, construction, and transportation are the areas with the largest emission reduction space.” said Liu Guiping, vice governor of the People’s Bank of China. The support of energy and other green industries and green technologies will promote the green transformation of key industries and fields, and reduce the economy’s dependence on carbon-intensive industries.
"Commercial banks should increase their support for green projects and support the low-carbon transformation of high-carbon industries." Ma Jun, director of the Green Finance Professional Committee of the Chinese Finance Society, suggested that at the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the innovation capabilities of green financial products, such as innovation and carbon footprint Linked green loans.
It is worth noting that the development of green loans is still facing constraints, including the issue of imperfect incentive and restraint mechanisms.
To this end, many people in the industry suggest that we can start from two aspects.
On the one hand, in order to mobilize the enthusiasm of commercial banks, research can be done to reduce the risk weight of green loans, thereby reducing the cost of commercial banks' green loan business and increasing the rate of return.
Under the effect of positive incentives, we will guide more credit resources to invest in green fields.
On the other hand, the finance provides discount support for green loans.
Regarding the clean and efficient use of coal, the State Council executive meeting held on November 17 has taken the lead in making arrangements.
According to the meeting, measures such as reasonable reduction of the proportion of project capital, appropriate tax incentives, government special debt fund support, and accelerated depreciation will be studied as a whole.
Reduce green bond issuance costs
A few days ago, the country’s first carbon market performance-linked bond issuance-Guangdong Huizhou Pinghai Power Plant Co., Ltd. 2021 first phase of medium-term notes (sustainable linked) issuance scale is 300 million yuan, with a term of 3 years.
"Sustainable-linked development bonds are innovative debt financing tools that emerged under the decision and deployment of'carbon peaks and carbon neutrality'." The relevant person in charge of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China said that it sets the bond terms and coupon rates to the issuer. The goal and effect of reducing emissions are locked, which not only broadens the financing channels for enterprises, but also promotes the realization of sustainable development in a planned and targeted manner.
At present, green bonds are an important channel for green financing and the main starting point for the capital market to serve the green industry.
In recent years, the scale of my country's green bond market has grown steadily. Up to now, the stock size has reached nearly 1 trillion yuan, ranking among the top in the world, and there has been no case of default.
The increasing improvement of green classification standards has also expanded the development space for green bonds.
Prior to this, the Central Bank, together with the Development and Reform Commission and the China Securities Regulatory Commission, jointly issued the "Catalogue of Green Bond Support Projects", and the standards for green bonds have been unified.
On November 4, the International Sustainable Finance Platform jointly initiated by China and Europe and other economies released the "Sustainable Finance Common Classification Catalogue Report-Climate Change Mitigation", covering major economic activities in six major areas, namely energy, manufacturing, and construction. , Transportation, solid waste and forestry.
"This is of great significance for promoting China-EU green investment and financing cooperation, guiding cross-border climate investment and financing activities, and reducing the cost of green certification for cross-border transactions." The "Common Classification Catalogue" issues and trades green financial products in the international market.
Although the development prospects of green bonds are broad, there are also pain points, one of which is the high issuance cost.
According to statistics from financial regulatory authorities, compared with ordinary bonds with the same issuance date, same rating, and same maturity, only about 45% of green bonds will have a low interest rate in 2020. The rest of the green bonds will either have similar or even higher interest rates. high.
According to analysis by industry insiders, there are three main reasons for the high cost, that is, the relatively small issuance scale, the lack of continuity of issuance, and the mismatch between supply and demand in stages.
In addition, due to the long cycle of green projects and low investment returns, their issuance pricing is less tied to project returns, but based on the issuer’s credit qualifications, bond maturity and other terms, and the issuance cost advantage is not significant.
Green insurance products urgently need to be filled
Compared with green loans and green bonds that have made positive progress, green insurance lags behind.
In the process of financial support for green and low-carbon development, the insurance industry plays an indispensable role, but the current green insurance products urgently need to be filled.
"Compared with the guarantee needs of the economic and social green and low-carbon transition, my country's green insurance still has a gap." Ma Jun said, we must continue to make efforts in product supply, the breadth and depth of guarantee coverage, risk data accumulation, and innovative incentive mechanisms.
For example, continue to expand the coverage of green insurance products, increase product categories, and build a multi-scenario, all-round green insurance product and service system.
The reporter was informed that as one of the first batch of national green finance reform and innovation pilot zones, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, has taken the lead in issuing "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Development of Green Insurance Innovation" and has successively developed a series of green agricultural insurance products such as weather index insurance and agricultural product price index insurance. .
Among them, PICC P&C Huzhou Branch launched the "White Tea Low Temperature (Drought) Index Insurance", and included "Drought Affects Tea Growth" in the insurance coverage.
For white tea planting companies, if they encounter bad weather conditions and cause economic losses, they can mitigate risks through insurance products.
In addition to risk mitigation and adjustment, insurance funds can also provide long-term and stable financial support for green industries due to their long term structure and diversified investment objectives.
"Usually, insurance funds have a long term, large volume, and have the ability and conditions to bear certain short-term costs, and their capital characteristics match the green investment." The relevant person in charge of China Re Asset Management Co., Ltd. said, next , Participating in green investment will become an effective path for insurance funds to serve the “dual-carbon” goal, and a useful attempt to lay out key areas in advance.
Our reporter Guo Ziyuan