Southern China leads way with Greater Bay Area climate funding launch pad

Name: US and China’s top climate officials hold talks as rival powers seek to ease tensions
Uploaded: 2023-11-19T10:00:14.000Z
Duration: 2 min 43 s
Description: US and China’s top climate officials hold talks as rival powers seek to ease tensions

Nansha district in Guangzhou becomes the first place in the country to open its platform to finance climate-related projects

Applications have already been received for US$10 billion in investment, report says

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Guangzhou is one of a number of places across the country chosen for a pilot climate financing scheme. Photo: Shutterstock

Kandy Wong

Published: 6:00pm, 19 Nov 2023

The southern Chinese city of Guangzhou is spearheading a climate financing push in the Greater Bay Area, becoming the first to launch its pilot investment scheme as Beijing seeks to expand carbon trading.

The platform, based in Nansha district, was launched on Friday to channel debt and equity financing to companies involved in climate change-related projects.

A number of banks, securities firms, insurance companies and fund managers have signed up to take part in the scheme and assess the climate-friendliness of each project.

The state-owned Shanghai Securities Journal reported that 95 projects designed to combat climate change had submitted funding applications to the scheme for a total investment of 72.7 billion yuan (US$10 billion).

“We need to proactively include more high-emissions industries into the country’s carbon market,” vice environment minister Zhao Yingmin said at the launch.

“We should enrich the types of financial products and increase trading agents in the carbon market, because an effective and active Chinese carbon market can have more influence in the world.”

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US and China’s top climate officials hold talks as rival powers seek to ease tensions