1st LD-Writethru: China to establish green financing mechanism for greener growth

China will establish a green financing mechanism to facilitate the economy's transition to sustainable growth.

The move aims to encourage more private capital into green sectors and stem investment that might pollute the environment, according to the guidelines released Wednesday by the People's Bank of China and six other central authorities.

Supportive policies will promote green financing, such as offering government interest subsidies via refinancing and professional guarantees and setting up national green development fund.

China also decided to define standards for green bonds, pledged support for qualified green firms to get listed and refinanced, and put in place compulsory information disclosure mechanism regarding environmental issues.

China is the world's largest green bond market, with green bonds issued in the first half of the year reaching 75 billion yuan (11.2 billion U.S.dollars), or 33 percent of the world's total.

The government is also considering developing green insurance and environmental rights trading markets to enrich green financing tools.

Local governments should also take measures such as setting up funds to encourage more social capital to invest in green sectors, according to the guidelines.

Meanwhile, China will continue to enhance international cooperation on this field and steadily promote the two-way opening up of green bond markets.

China has put green financing on the G20 agenda for the first time to mobilize more investment in environmentally friendly projects. The G20 has set up a research team on the issue based on a proposal by China. Endi