Guiding Opinions of the People's Bank of China and the National Development and Reform Commission on Further Strengthening Financial Support for Green and Low-Carbon Development

Recently, With the approval of the State Council, the People's Bank of China, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Financial Regulatory Administration, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, has formulated and issued the "Guiding Opinions on Further Improving Financial Support for the Green, Low-Carbon, and High-Quality Development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt". 。

The "Guiding Opinions" adhere to ecological priority and green development, led by technological innovation, coordinating ecological environmental protection and economic and social development, further improving financial support and services, and better promoting the green, low-carbon, and high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

The "Guiding Opinions" propose 16 key tasks from four aspects: vigorously developing green finance, promoting the coordinated development of green finance with technology finance and digital finance, promoting the coordinated development of green finance with inclusive finance and pension finance, and solidly carrying out financial risk assessment and prevention and control work.

To earnestly implement the strategic deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, fully, accurately, and comprehensively implement the new development concept, adhere to joint efforts for major protection without large-scale development, insist on ecological priority and green development, lead with technological innovation, coordinate ecological environmental protection and economic and social development, fight the tough battle for the protection and restoration of the Yangtze River, further improve financial support and services, and better promote the green, low-carbon, and high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, with the approval of the State Council, the following opinions are hereby proposed.

I. Overall Requirements

Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party and the Central Financial Work Conference, conscientiously implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speeches and instructions on promoting the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, adhere to the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee over financial work, insist on financial services to the real economy as the fundamental purpose, regard risk prevention and control as the eternal theme of financial work, adhere to the general principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, and according to market-oriented and law-based principles, increase financial support for the green, low-carbon, and high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, further play the role of the Yangtze River Economic Belt as the main battlefield for ecological priority and green development, the main artery for smooth domestic and international dual circulation, and the main force leading high-quality economic development.

II. Key Tasks

(1) Vigorously develop green finance to support the green, low-carbon, and high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

1. Fully utilize structural monetary policy tools to support green and low-carbon development. Make full use of carbon reduction support tools and other structural monetary policy tools, guide financial institutions to increase support for key areas such as green development and low-carbon transformation in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and encourage social funds to invest more in the green low-carbon transformation field. Cultivate high-level third-party carbon accounting institutions to improve the quality and credibility of carbon emission data.

2. Actively support the issuance of green bonds. Guide financial institutions and enterprises in the Yangtze River Economic Belt to issue green bonds according to domestic and international standards, facilitating international market funds to invest in China's low-carbon transition. Increase support for innovative products such as carbon-neutral bonds, actively support financing through bond issuance by operating entities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Actively use transition bonds, sustainability-linked bonds, etc., to provide financial support for the low-carbon transformation of high-carbon industries in provinces and cities along the Yangtze River (hereinafter referred to as "provinces and cities along the Yangtze River").

3. Leverage the role of multi-level capital markets. Support eligible green and low-carbon enterprises in the Yangtze River Economic Belt to finance and develop through multi-level capital markets by means such as issuance and listing, refinancing, mergers and acquisitions, and listing on the New Third Board. Support eligible infrastructure projects of related enterprises in the Yangtze River Economic Belt to issue asset securitization products and real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the infrastructure sector. Support public fund managers to actively deploy related thematic public funds. Study and compile green low-carbon development indices and launch more index-based investment products related to green low-carbon development. Explore paths and models for ecological product asset securitization.

4. Build a diversified funding input mechanism. Guide financial institutions to increase support for key tasks and projects of the Yangtze River protection, such as urban domestic sewage and garbage collection and treatment system construction, "Manganese Triangle" pollution control, agricultural non-point source pollution control, chemical industry land retirement site management, soil pollution source prevention and control, mobile source pollution control, new pollutant control, tailings pond pollution control, air pollutant control, noise pollution control, climate change response, cultivated land soil pollution control, important lake and reservoir water ecological restoration, biodiversity protection, small hydropower green transformation and modernization upgrades, according to market-oriented and law-based principles. Encourage financial institutions to provide credit support based on their functional positioning for urban sewage pipe network construction and renovation projects and rural domestic sewage treatment in provinces and cities along the Yangtze River. Support international financial organizations to play an active role in jointly building a diversified funding input mechanism supporting the green and low-carbon development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Make good use of the National Green Development Fund to support high-quality development of green industries such as pollution control, ecological restoration, green transportation, and clean energy in provinces and cities along the Yangtze River.

5. Increase financial support for key areas such as the low-carbon transformation of Yangtze River waterway shipping. Guide financial institutions to increase support for the low-carbon transformation of Yangtze River waterway shipping. Support financial institutions to increase support for key areas such as the Yangtze River Golden Waterway, interconnection of transportation infrastructure, port railway collection and distribution systems, comprehensive three-dimensional transportation corridors, urban pipe networks, water network construction, ecological protection and restoration, rural cultural tourism, better support for research and application of ship energy-saving technologies, green and intelligent transformation of ship enterprises, construction of port and ship shore power facilities, new energy and clean energy ships and their supporting facilities, and low-noise ships. Study and formulate financial standards for the transformation of the shipping industry. Encourage financial institutions to explore and develop insurance products related to the shipping industry.

6. Improve the incentive and restraint mechanisms for green finance. Enrich the application scenarios of green finance evaluation. Explore establishing carbon accounts for key industry enterprises and individuals in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, use data platforms to improve the efficiency of carbon footprint collection, accounting, and rating of related operating entities, support financial institutions to explore green financial products and services based on carbon account data, and build an incentive-compatible carbon reduction financial support mechanism. Support financial institutions to provide more support for green finance in credit plans, internal fund transfer pricing, business processes, financial product and service management authority, etc., under the premise of legal compliance and controllable risks. Encourage financial institutions to formulate and improve green low-carbon transformation plans. Promote the phased and classified construction of differentiated environmental information disclosure systems covering various financial institutions, encourage financial institutions to proactively disclose environmental information, and gradually improve the disclosure level of carbon emissions and carbon reduction information.

7. Steadily and orderly carry out green finance reform and innovation experiments and climate investment and financing pilots. Under the premise of maintaining the risk bottom line, support and encourage provinces and cities along the Yangtze River with conditions and willingness to carry out green finance reform and innovation experiments and climate investment and financing pilots. Support relevant pilot areas to actively speak out on platforms such as the Group of Twenty (G20) and the United Nations Climate Change Conference, telling the story of green finance in China.

(2) Promote the coordinated development of green finance with technology finance and digital finance.

8. Strengthen technology empowerment for green and low-carbon development. Strengthen the application of digital technology, optimize and promote intelligent, differentiated, and scenario-based green financial services. Establish and improve the green finance basic information data sharing mechanism, explore the use of big data, cloud computing, edge computing, and other technologies to accurately capture, integrate, and analyze carbon data, activate green assets, and reduce the cost of green low-carbon transformation and development for business entities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Increase financial support for strategic emerging industries and future industries, accelerate the formation of new quality productivity, build a financial service system covering the entire life cycle of technology enterprises, and help the Yangtze River Economic Belt shape new advantages driven by innovation. Under the premise of "clear visibility and effective control," prudently and orderly support the provinces and cities along the river to carry out technological financial reform experiments, promoting the coordinated development of green finance and technological finance.

9. Support the gradient transfer of industries in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Encourage financial institutions to develop financial products related to industrial transfer cooperation and provide credit support for qualified industrial transfer projects. Increase financial support for industrial cooperation in provinces and cities along the river, focusing on supporting cross-provincial park co-construction, industrial division of labor cooperation, technological collaborative innovation, and optimized allocation of factors, guiding funds, technology, and labor-intensive industries to transfer orderly from the east to the central and western regions, and from central cities to the hinterland. Coordinate financial openness and security, improve the facilitation of cross-border investment and financing, and conscientiously manage foreign exchange administration and services in provinces and cities along the river.

10. Support the development of green low-carbon technology. Encourage financial institutions to provide comprehensive financial services for green low-carbon technology innovation and promotion, supporting enterprises in the Yangtze River Economic Belt to carry out green low-carbon technology innovation and energy-saving and carbon-reduction technology transformation. Increase the supply of financial products in key areas such as the research, promotion, and industrial application of new green technologies, green industry cultivation and development, carbon reduction technologies, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). Support provinces and cities along the river to establish green project databases based on regional green low-carbon technology development advantages. Explore the establishment of platforms serving green technology transactions and support the accelerated transfer and transformation of green technologies.

(3) Promote the coordinated development of green finance with inclusive finance and pension finance.

11. Precisely support the green low-carbon development of "three rural" sectors and small and micro enterprises. Strengthen financial support for new agricultural business entities and ecological circular agriculture industries in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, guide financial institutions to increase support for agricultural variety improvement, quality enhancement, brand building, and standardized production, and increase the supply of green and high-quality agricultural products. Encourage financial institutions to develop financial products that combine green and inclusive characteristics, optimizing financial services for farmers, small and micro enterprises, and specific groups. Coordinate the construction of financing and credit service platforms to provide convenient and efficient financing services for the "three rural" sectors and small and micro enterprises' green low-carbon development. Under the premise of controllable risks, prudently and orderly support provinces and cities along the river to carry out inclusive finance reform experiments, promoting the coordinated development of green finance and inclusive finance.

12. Support solid work on employment and pension financial services for the public during the green low-carbon transition. Ensure the connection of financial services for enterprises undergoing green low-carbon transition in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, effectively meeting the basic financial service needs of the public. Guide financial institutions to increase efforts in age-friendly transformation, provide good financial services for low-income groups and the elderly, strengthen manual, remote, and door-to-door services for specific groups such as the elderly, and develop targeted inclusive financial products exclusive to specific groups. Encourage financial institutions to increase support for pension service facilities and silver economy industry projects, broadening financing channels for the pension industry. Guide financial institutions to increase support for parks, factory workshops, e-commerce logistics, cooperatives, and other entities surrounding green low-carbon transition enterprises, supporting the provision of more employment opportunities and positions for key groups such as "new citizens." Guide financial institutions to actively develop personal pension business, regulate operating behaviors, and launch more simple, understandable, safe, stable, and long-term value-preserving personal pension products. Encourage financial institutions to actively invest in upstream and downstream enterprises of the pension industry chain through debt, equity, property rights, and other means to meet the diverse pension needs of the people.

13. Vigorously support the establishment of ecological product value realization mechanisms. Promote the construction of market-based supporting mechanisms such as natural resource confirmation and registration, value assessment, transaction circulation, and intermediary services. Guide financial institutions to carry out green financial businesses such as financing with ecological product expected income rights, energy use rights, water use rights, pollution discharge rights, and carbon emission quota pledges according to market-oriented and legal principles, referencing natural resource confirmation and registration results and ecological product value accounting results of specific regional units, and explore the development of related green financial products. Encourage financial institutions to base on their functional positioning and, under the premise of legal compliance and risk control, provide funding support for projects such as systematic ecological protection and restoration to realize ecological product value, ecological product operation and development, and ecological environment-oriented development (EOD). Summarize and promote experiences in financial support for ecological product value realization, innovate green financial products and services, and support the development of green ecological economy in key ecological function zones along the river.

(4) Solidly carry out financial risk assessment and prevention work, firmly hold the risk bottom line.

14. Improve green finance statistical monitoring and evaluation capabilities. Improve green finance statistics, establish intelligent and standardized green finance evaluation mechanisms, and provide a basis for daily supervision implementation. Encourage financial institutions to conduct environmental benefit monitoring and evaluation, quantifying energy saving and emission reduction effects.

15. Strengthen risk prevention and resolution in the green low-carbon transition field. Make full use of modern technology to enhance regulatory methods, encourage financial institutions to conduct timely stress tests on environmental risks in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and improve the identification, monitoring, and prevention of climate and environmental risks. Strengthen the capacity of financial institutions in managing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks, encourage them to establish sound disclosure systems for major environmental risks, explore the creation of a classified management mechanism for negative information, fully consider corporate environmental information disclosure in the approval of green project financing, reinforce supervision of fund flows, and prevent risks of "greenwashing" and "green漂".

16. Create a safe and stable financial development environment. Comprehensively strengthen financial supervision, legally include all financial activities under supervision, and achieve "clear visibility and effective control." Strictly crack down on illegal financial activities. Effectively and orderly resolve local debt risks, meet reasonable local investment needs, coordinate debt resolution and development, and resolve local debt risks through high-quality development. Strengthen cross-regional, cross-industry, and cross-market financial regulatory cooperation to prevent risk transmission and resonance across regions, markets, and borders. Coordinate development and security, adhere to financial support based on the real financing needs and risk protection requirements of the real economy, and firmly hold the bottom line of preventing systemic financial risks.

III. Safeguard Measures

(1) Strengthen organizational leadership. The branches of the People's Bank of China in provinces and cities along the river, development and reform commissions, industrial and information technology authorities, finance departments (bureaus), ecological environment departments (bureaus), financial regulatory bureaus, China Securities Regulatory Commission regulatory bureaus, and State Administration of Foreign Exchange branches in provinces and cities along the river must effectively raise political awareness, improve work mechanisms, clarify responsibilities, detail work tasks, and ensure the implementation of various policies, submitting for approval according to procedures when required. Relevant departments and financial management branches in provinces and cities along the river should strengthen cross-provincial and cross-departmental coordination, optimize regional policy coordination, encourage financial institutions, stock exchanges, and self-regulatory organizations to collaboratively study and resolve prominent difficulties and bottlenecks in financial support for the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt through coordination promotion meetings and other forms, better forming a joint effort to support coordinated, differentiated, and linked development of provinces and cities along the river.

(2) Strengthen publicity and guidance. Relevant departments of provinces and cities along the Yangtze River, branches of financial regulatory departments, financial institutions, stock exchanges, and self-regulatory organizations should use various channels such as official websites, WeChat public accounts, and news media to effectively promote financial support for the green, low-carbon, and high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, create a favorable public opinion atmosphere, summarize experiences and practices in a timely manner, and replicate and promote on a larger scale according to procedures when conditions permit.

(3) Strengthen supervision and management. Relevant departments of provinces and cities along the Yangtze River, branches of financial regulatory departments, financial institutions, stock exchanges, self-regulatory organizations, and other institutions should establish a target responsibility system, regularly track implementation, improve assessment and reward-punishment mechanisms, incorporate the implementation of financial support for the green and low-carbon development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt into annual assessments, conduct third-party evaluations in a timely manner, and promptly identify and resolve issues. Relevant national departments should strengthen supervision, management, guidance, and supervision to ensure solid progress and effective results.

People's Bank of China

National Development and Reform Commission

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

Ministry of Finance

Ministry of Ecology and Environment

China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission

China Securities Regulatory Commission

State Administration of Foreign Exchange

August 25, 2024