Let green finance "applaud and applaud"
Our reporter Chen Guojing
my country is a pioneer in advocating the concept of green finance.
The People's Bank of China resolutely implements the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, focuses on environmental improvement, addressing climate change and resource conservation and efficient use, adheres to the principles of high standards and openness to promote the construction of a green financial system, improves incentive and restraint mechanisms, strengthens information disclosure, and advocates and promotes green International cooperation in finance to safeguard "lucid waters and lush mountains" and the earth's homeland.
Only by clarifying the standards can market players accurately grasp the meaning of "green". This is the premise of the standardized development of green finance, and it is also the key to ensuring that the rules "guide green" rather than "statistically green".
In 2018, the People's Bank of China took the lead in establishing the Green Finance Standard Working Group of the National Financial Standardization Technical Committee to promote the establishment of a green finance standard system in accordance with the principles of "domestic unity, international integration, and clear and enforceable".
According to data from the Research Bureau of the People's Bank of China, in the past three years, three standards have been officially released, namely, "Catalogue of Green Bond Support Projects (2021 Edition)" (Chinese and English versions), "Guidelines for Financial Institutions' Environmental Information Disclosure" and "Environmental Equity Financing Tools";15 The project standard has entered the project approval or solicitation link, involving environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) evaluation, carbon accounting and other key areas.
Some standards were first tested in the green financial reform and innovation pilot zone, to explore and accumulate experience for national promotion.
At the same time, it is an inevitable requirement to promote the marketization and sustainable development of green finance to improve the incentive and restraint mechanism and focus on improving the returns of green financial business.
According to the Research Bureau of the People's Bank of China, since 2018, the People's Bank of China has comprehensively carried out green credit performance evaluation of banking financial institutions.
In 2021, it will be upgraded to green finance evaluation, and green bond business will be included in the evaluation scope to guide financial institutions to increase the allocation of green assets in an orderly manner.
In 2021, in accordance with the principles of marketization, rule of law, and internationalization, the People's Bank of China will create and launch two new structural monetary policy tools to encourage more social funds to invest in green and low-carbon fields.
One is a carbon emission reduction support tool, which supports the development of three key carbon reduction fields of clean energy, energy conservation and environmental protection, and carbon emission reduction technologies in a stable, orderly, and precise manner, and leverages more social funds to promote carbon emission reduction.
The other is to support special re-loans for the clean and efficient utilization of coal, and to support the large-scale clean production of coal and the application of clean combustion technology in seven areas.
The two tools insist on "establishing first and then breaking down", encouraging "walking on two legs", and continuing to support the clean and efficient utilization of coal and coal power while developing clean energy.
For commercial bank loans that meet the requirements, the People's Bank of China will provide low-cost capital support based on a certain proportion of the loan principal, and the interest rate is 1.75%, which is the most favorable interest rate of the People's Bank of China.
Up to now, the People's Bank of China has supported financial institutions to issue loans of 230.8 billion yuan and 13.4 billion yuan respectively through two tools, of which carbon emission reduction loans drive annual carbon emission reductions of 47.86 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
At present, my country has initially formed a multi-level green financial product and market system such as green loans, green bonds, green insurance, green funds, green trusts, and carbon financial products.
As of the end of 2021, the balance of green loans in domestic and foreign currencies in my country was 15.9 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33%, ranking first in the world in terms of stock size.
In 2021, the issuance of domestic green bonds will exceed 600 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 180%, and the balance will reach 1.1 trillion yuan.
At the same time, the matching of green bond terms is more reasonable, and the cost advantage is gradually emerging.
According to statistics, compared with comparable ordinary bonds (non-green bonds issued by the same issuer in the quarter and excluding the term premium factor), 77% of green bonds in 2021 have an issuance cost advantage.