Forum focuses on green finance

China should promote innovation in green finance and expand sources of funding for green finance by making strong efforts such as developing green bonds and issuing green asset-backed securities, bankers and policymakers said at a forum on Tuesday.

"Green finance must rely on innovation, as demand and supply are very complicated in this field of business," said Ma Jun, a member of the monetary policy committee of the People's Bank of China.

Aside from encouraging green bond issuance and the use of environmental rights as collateral for financing, China should promote asset-backed securitization of green loans so that institutional investors become more involved in green asset investment, Ma told a green finance forum held by Industrial Bank Co Ltd, a Fuzhou-based commercial bank taking the lead in providing green financial services in China.

"Efforts should also be made to promote investment by private equity and venture capital firms in the development of low-cost clean energy, which will eventually lead to a substantial transition in the energy sector by significantly reducing the cost of green energy through technological innovation," he said.

Financial technologies such as big data, the internet of things and artificial intelligence could be widely used to promote the development of green finance, particularly in terms of lowering the cost of certification of green products and green assets, he added.

Tao Yiping, president of Industrial Bank Co Ltd, shared Ma's views about the need for China to increase support for green finance by expanding sources of funding, such as vigorously developing green bond issuance.

"The supportive measures also include targeted cuts in banks' reserve requirement ratios under appropriate conditions. It will help promote the steadier and better development of green finance," Tao said.

He also advised the government to accelerate the construction of green finance standards, unifying existing Chinese standards, which are different among ministries and different from international standards.