China promotes green finance along Yangtze River Economic Belt

The Chinese government has recently reiterated its commitment to promoting green finance along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, aiming to support the region's green, low-carbon and high-quality development.

According to a set of guidelines released by various government agencies, including the People's Bank of China and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the country will make full use of structural monetary policy tools and encourage more social investment in the green, low-carbon transformation of the economic belt.

Financial institutions and businesses along the belt will be guided to issue green bonds in line with both domestic and international standards, facilitating global participation in the country's low-carbon transition, per the guidelines.

Eligible green and low-carbon firms will be permitted to obtain funding through such pathways as initial public offerings, refinancing, and mergers and acquisitions.

The country will use its national green development fund to boost pollution reduction, ecological restoration, and the development of green transport networks and clean energy along the economic belt.

China launched the Yangtze River Economic Belt initiative in early 2016, aiming to transform the region into a golden economic belt featuring a more beautiful ecology, smoother transport networks, a more coordinated economy, a better-integrated market and a greater quantity of scientific mechanisms.

The Yangtze River is China's longest waterway, running more than 6,300 kilometers through 11 provincial-level regions before flowing into the East China Sea. A number of China's economic powerhouses, megacities and major rice-producing areas are located in and around the river basin.