Continuously improve the level of green financial supply (Financial Eye·Enter the Financial Reform Pilot Zone)
The development of green finance is an important driving force for achieving green development.
In August 2016, the "Guiding Opinions on Building a Green Financial System" was released, making my country the first country in the world to be promoted by the government and issue policies to explicitly support the construction of a "green financial system."
In June 2017, the executive meeting of the State Council decided to select some places in the five provinces (regions) of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guizhou, and Xinjiang to build green financial reform and innovation pilot zones with different focuses and characteristics.
Chongqing and Gansu Lanzhou New District were subsequently approved to build green financial reform and innovation pilot zones.
At present, the first batch of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones have completed the five-year trial period. What practical results have been achieved in the green finance reform and innovation trials?
The reporter recently conducted an interview in Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province.
Financial resources provide strong support for the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, guiding the concept of green development to become more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people
Crushing, screening, high-temperature pressing, cooling, packaging... In the factory of Jiangshan Hualong Energy Development Co., Ltd. in Jiangshan City, Quzhou, a production line that "turns waste into treasure" is operating automatically. More than 10 tons of wood chips are made into raw materials every hour. Material pellet fuel.
"Biomass pellets are easy to store and transport, have good combustion performance, produce high calorific value, and significantly reduce carbon and sulfur emissions. For factories, burning biomass pellets for heating is conducive to environmental protection and emission reduction, and at the same time, it reduces the cost of transforming boilers It is also relatively low, and this product is very popular with surrounding companies." said Yang Hui, the person in charge of the company.
Jiangshan City currently has more than 100 door-to-door companies. Last year, the city’s door industry (whole-house customization) industry output value was 9.02 billion yuan.
In order to promote the green development of the wooden door industry, in recent years, the local government has focused on solving the problem of waste disposal such as wood chips, and developing the biomass pellet manufacturing industry is an important move.
Yang Hui is very optimistic about the market prospects. Two years ago, he planned to increase investment and apply for a green loan from a local bank.
"The company's industry is in line with environmental protection orientation, and the company's operating conditions are also good. I heard that bank carbon account loans can increase the quota and reduce the interest rate based on the company's environmental protection situation, but my wish came true," Yang Hui said.
"According to the company's carbon account information, the evaluation result of the carbon emission intensity of the company's unit industrial added value is 'red', which means that the company's energy consumption is relatively high in the same industry. According to the requirements of relevant loan products, it cannot enjoy loan increases and interest rate concessions." This is what the staff of Jiangshan Rural Commercial Bank explained at the time.
The experience of applying for a loan this time has deepened Yang Hui's understanding of green and low-carbon development: "The product itself is not 'green' enough, the production process must also be more environmentally friendly. In the process of the company's subsequent expansion of investment and optimization of production lines, energy conservation and emission reduction It is a key direction." In 2022, the company will introduce a batch of more energy-efficient production equipment and improve its sewage treatment capacity.
At the end of the year, the carbon emission intensity evaluation result of the enterprise's industrial added value per unit was upgraded from "red" to "light green", which became a "stepping stone" for low-interest loans. When applying for a subsequent loan, I was indeed granted a higher amount and enjoyed preferential treatment. interest rate.
Yang Hui's company has expanded its raw material acquisition scope to include agricultural waste, driving green production and increasing income for surrounding farmers.
"In the past, it was troublesome to deal with rapeseed stalks and camellia oleifera shells. Now part of it is used to return the fields, and part of it is sold as fuel raw materials, which can increase income by about 200,000 yuan a year." Xiao Yuanqin, a major grain grower in Daqiao Town, Jiangshan City, said.
"Produce at night and use off-peak electricity more; strengthen monitoring and reduce pollution... Nowadays, enterprises are paying more and more attention to 'low carbon' and consciously follow the path of green development." Yang Hui said that with the support of green financial services, a group of local companies of the same type have The enterprise has accelerated its development and formed an industrial cluster with circular economy characteristics for the utilization of wood dust industrial solid waste, driving the common green development of upstream and downstream enterprises and achieving win-win economic, environmental and social benefits.
In Quzhou City, green finance continues to accelerate the pace of innovation, helping more and more industries and enterprises to achieve transformation and upgrading.
Local banks actively support the informatization, intelligence, and green upgrading of traditional manufacturing industries, and continue to increase credit support for energy-saving and environmental protection transformation, new energy projects, waste recycling and other fields.
Zhejiang Tianpeng Animal Industry Co., Ltd. obtained Quzhou City's first "agricultural carbon neutrality" project loan in the form of live livestock mortgage to build a "building ranch".
The company uses an intelligent breeding model to convert livestock urine and feces into organic fertilizer and electricity to achieve energy conservation and emission reduction.
"Supporting the green transformation of traditional industries is the focus of Quzhou City's green financial reform and innovation. Financial resources not only provide strong support for the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, but also effectively play a guiding role to help the green development concept become more popular." State Financial Supervision and Administration Lan Chunfeng, director of the Quzhou Supervision Bureau, said.
Build a comprehensive green finance service platform, build a strong financial service infrastructure, solve the pain points and difficulties in green finance development, and improve the quality and efficiency of green finance services.
In recent years, the concept of carbon accounts has gradually become known.
What does a carbon account look like?
The reporter got a clear answer at the Quzhou Energy Big Data Center.
"Carbon account is a data governance tool and an important infrastructure for green finance. It can intelligently monitor, dynamically calculate and scientifically evaluate the carbon behavior of various social entities, and provide accurate carbon control for the government, energy conservation and carbon reduction for enterprises, and individual green and low-carbon behaviors." Carbon Life provides data support. For example, by collecting all types of energy data such as cooling, heating, electricity, coal, and gas from enterprises, the carbon account can timely and accurately reflect the carbon emissions and energy conservation and emission reduction effects of the business entity." State Grid (Quzhou) ) Zhou Kai, deputy director of the technical department of Integrated Energy Services Co., Ltd., said that currently, Quzhou City’s carbon account system has covered more than 4,000 legal entities and more than 2 million individual entities in multiple fields such as industry, agriculture, energy, transportation, and construction.
Zhou Kai introduced that in the process of promoting energy conservation and carbon reduction in enterprises, there are pain points such as inconsistent accounting standards, inaccurate carbon emission data, and unscientific assessment and evaluation.
To this end, the carbon account system collects enterprise energy consumption data in real time and comprehensively, and uses a government data sharing platform to integrate multi-department data resources and establish a carbon account basic data warehouse covering energy consumption data, economic data, and other carbon-related data. .
On this basis, we innovate the enterprise carbon emission intensity labeling and evaluation method, and organically integrate carbon emission data with economic data such as product output, industrial added value, and taxation from the three dimensions of industry advancement, regional contribution, and subject effort. , multi-dimensional analysis, assigning 4-color carbon emission intensity levels to enterprises, achieving an accurate portrait of corporate carbon assessment, and generating a carbon credit report.
How does carbon account promote innovation in green financial development?
Banks can obtain corporate carbon credit reports after authorization from enterprises, and provide differentiated credit policies according to different carbon emission levels; insurance institutions rely on carbon account labeling to carry out innovation from the three dimensions of system, product and service to provide business entities with precise services. .
Data shows that as of the end of 2023, Quzhou City’s carbon account loan balance was 76.284 billion yuan.
"For banks, how to efficiently and accurately identify green financial service objects is a difficult point. After the carbon account is established, the energy-saving and emission reduction behaviors of operating entities can be documented, providing an important quantitative reference for banks, and effectively reducing the bank's understanding of enterprises. The cost of real operating conditions can improve the quality and efficiency of financial services." said a relevant person in charge of a local bank.
The application of carbon accounts continues to expand.
Quzhou City innovatively launched the bank's "Personal Carbon Account". By mining big data such as green payments, green travel, and green life in the bank account system, it can calculate the carbon saved by personal low-carbon green behaviors from the dimensions of saving paper, transportation carbon emissions, water and electricity, etc. Emissions, personal carbon emission reductions are converted into personal carbon account points, and differentiated preferential policies are provided to customers in terms of credit lines, loan interest rates, processing procedures, etc. based on the points, and incentives are used to guide people to practice green lifestyles.
"Going out to ride city shared bicycles, paying water and electricity bills online... a green lifestyle can accumulate carbon points, which can be redeemed for daily necessities at a bank outlet." At a carbon point gift exchange point at a bank outlet, Xiao Yang returned with a full load.
Judging from the situation in various green finance reform and innovation pilot zones, building various green finance comprehensive service platforms and building and strengthening financial service infrastructure including carbon accounts have become the key to solving the pain points and difficulties in green finance development and improving the quality and efficiency of green finance services. important starting point.
Gansu Lanzhou New District has launched the "Green Gold Pass" comprehensive service platform to provide integrated services for corporate green project identification and rating, financing demand release, and bank-enterprise docking; Guizhou Gui'an New District is building a green low-carbon new infrastructure represented by a green data center. Create a financial infrastructure gathering place; Guangzhou City, Guangdong and other places have established professional collegial tribunals for green economic disputes to optimize legal services in the field of green finance... In addition, the provinces where several green finance reform and innovation pilot zones are located have established a comprehensive green finance project library and green investment and financing , pollution prevention and control special fund and other special project libraries to help solve the problem of information asymmetry among governments, financial institutions and enterprises.
"Empowering financial services with advanced technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence to achieve green information sharing and co-construction, efficient docking of banks and enterprises, and accurate policy matching will help lay a solid foundation for the development of green finance." said Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of China Merchants Union.
Improve the green financial organizational system, promote the construction of green specialized institutions, provide differentiated and diversified services more accurately and effectively, and better improve the level of green financial supply.
During a visit to the green finance reform and innovation pilot zone, the reporter observed that improving the green finance organizational system and promoting the construction of green specialized institutions are an important part of promoting the high-quality development of green finance in various places.
How can green specialized institutions better provide green financial services?
The process of launching an "industrial photovoltaic loan" product reflects the value of "expertise".
In recent years, photovoltaic panels have been installed on the roofs of many factories in Zhejiang Province.
This can not only provide clean electricity for enterprises and effectively reduce electricity costs, but also play a role in thermal insulation and reduce cooling energy consumption in summer.
"During daily visits to enterprises, the staff of the specialized branch learned that in the past, rooftop photovoltaic projects were mostly invested and constructed by professional photovoltaic enterprises for paid use by the factory. With the application and promotion of such projects, some projects with large power consumption have Enterprises have seen the environmental protection and economic benefits and have plans to build their own photovoltaic projects. However, many business owners do not know much about photovoltaic projects. In addition, they have invested a lot of capital in the early stage and do not know how to start." Jiangshan Rural Commercial Bank Economic Development Zone Green Specialty Chen Xianghong, head of the branch, said that after the specialized branch found the market demand and pain points, it immediately explored the launch of customized services.
Chen Xianghong said that after consulting and demonstrating with photovoltaic practitioners and experts, and after many discussions, the bank believed that it was feasible to provide loans to support enterprises in building self-built photovoltaic power stations.
“On the one hand, banks can strengthen resource docking and help companies make up for the technical shortcomings of self-built photovoltaic power stations; on the other hand, from a risk control perspective, companies that are willing to build self-built photovoltaic projects often have good qualifications and strong strength, and corporate photovoltaic power generation If the project is completed and put into operation, the electricity cost will be greatly reduced. The saved electricity bill will be another form of 'income', and the source of repayment will be guaranteed." Chen Xianghong said that the "industrial photovoltaic loan" came into being and helped many companies achieve their goals. Plans to build self-built photovoltaic power plants.
Building a team of specialized talents and providing precise green financial services to enterprises is the value of green specialized institutions.
In addition, judging from the situation of green specialized institutions in many places, bank head offices often provide certain policy preferences for green loans of specialized branches, such as establishing exclusive approval channels and providing interest rate subsidies, etc., to further stimulate the enthusiasm of green specialized institutions to serve green development.
"In order to further promote the high-quality development of green specialized institutions, Quzhou City carries out regular evaluation and monitoring of green institutions, and implements standardized and dynamic management of green characteristic branches." Lan Chunfeng said that as of the end of last year, green credit of the city's green institutions accounted for The proportion of green credit in the city was 53.3%, which was 20.67 percentage points higher than the city’s green credit proportion.
Looking across the country, many places are actively exploring the creation of green finance divisions or specialized institutions.
Chongqing has formulated leading policies and systems such as guidelines for the construction of green financial organization systems, clearly defined the business standards and performance orientation of green specialized institutions, and promoted Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank and Bank of Chongqing to build "Equator Banks" and build an Equator Bank based on international standards that is consistent with the Equator Principles. The internal management system and business processes will continue to increase green credit; Lanzhou New District has established a number of green insurance franchises to effectively enrich and improve the local green insurance supply, increase risk management coverage, and reduce the risk of environmental accidents.
"Building specialized institutions and enriching the types of institutions will help provide differentiated and diversified services more accurately and effectively, and better improve the level of green financial supply." said Zeng Gang, director of the Shanghai Finance and Development Laboratory.
Green financial reform and innovation experiments use green financial reform to drive financial supply-side structural reform and continue to optimize the allocation of financial resources.
Data shows that from 2018 to 2021, the average annual growth rate of green credit in the pilot zone was 21.03%, which was 5.59 percentage points higher than the average growth rate of all loans in the pilot zone. The construction of the pilot zone has achieved expected results.
How to further promote the innovative development of green finance and provide high-quality financial services for economic and social development?
Experts believe that from the perspective of industry practice, green finance and inclusive finance have shown certain intersectionality, and there is great potential to promote integrated development. In the future, the synergistic effect of mutual support and complementation of the two should be further exerted.
Guangzhou supports pig breeding with green finance and implements the "insurance + futures + bank" project to stabilize the supply of pigs in the market and build a defense line against price fluctuations; Jiangxi Ganjiang New District launches citrus "weather + price" insurance to provide support for ensuring the comprehensive income of fruit farmers ; Guizhou has established a green industry poverty alleviation investment fund to achieve investment and loan linkage between green industry funds and financial institutions... A series of inclusive and green financial services effectively support farmers to increase production and income, and help promote comprehensive rural revitalization.
In addition, Lan Chunfeng believes that in terms of serving new industries and new technologies, we can explore and improve the coordination mechanism of green finance and science and technology finance to promote the docking of investment and financing in the field of green technology research and development.
At the same time, experts suggest that the coordinated development of different categories of green financial products such as credit, bonds, insurance, and funds can be promoted to further enrich the supply and promote the formation of a good trend of all-round green financial reform, innovation and development.
(People's Daily reporter Qu Xinming)