China will step up efforts to support green industries with innovative financial products and services, the country's central bank said on Tuesday.
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) will push the development of green loans, bonds, and insurance, as well as derivatives as part of efforts to support peaking carbon dioxide emissions and achieving carbon neutrality, said Wang Xin, an official with the PBOC, at a press briefing.
By the end of last year, the country's outstanding green loans reached nearly 12 trillion yuan (about 1.86 trillion U.S. dollars), topping the world, Wang noted. He added that the bad loan ratio of green loans stood far below the average of the loans issued by commercial banks.
To increase green transition support, the central bank will optimize financial institutions' evaluations of their green finance businesses. It will also make better use of digital and financial technology in environmental information disclosure and sharing, Wang said.
