Green for Green.docVIP

Green for Green 　　The world may be no stranger to green finance―finance that pays special attention to environmental health， but when it comes to China， the country remains―well， green to the concept. In recent years， it has become a hot topic in China， particularly at the Third Shenzhen International Low Carbon City Forum held on June 17-18. 　　“Green finance means that banks establish supporting energy-saving and emission reduction as well as environmental protection as an important part of their business strategies， set up effective green credit promotion systems and sound risk control systems，”said Lin Boqiang， Director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University. “Compared with traditional finance， green finance emphasizes more on environmental benefits of the human society， and stresses protection of ecological environment and development of green industries in their investment behaviors.” 　　In China， green finance mainly includes green credit， green securities and green insurance， with most of the focus on the banking industry， especially bank credit. 　　According to figures from the China Banking Regulatory Commission， major Chinese banks granted 5.72 trillion yuan（$936.17 billion） of green credit in 2013， accounting for 7.95 percent of the total 71.9 trillion yuan （$11.77 trillion） of credit. In the first half of 2014， major Chinese banks granted 5.2 trillion yuan （$851.06 billion）， accounting for 6.7 percent of the total 77.6 trillion yuan （$12.7 trillion） of credit granted. 　　Early in 1974， former Federal Republic of Germany set up the world’s first policy bank for environmental protection， offering preferential loans for environment-related projects that commercial banks are reluctant to offer. In 2002， the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corp. and Dutch state-owned bank ABN AMRO developed the Equator Principles， a banking industry framework for addressing environmental and social risks in project financ- ing th