A guideline has been issued by The China Banking Regulatory Commission to encourage greater allocation of bank loans to companies and industries involving in environmental protection, and energy-efficiency projects. The future projects that maximize and improve the utilization of energy and resources would be favored since the country continues its war against serious pollution and environmental problems.
At the end of June last year the value of outstanding loans made to the country's environmental protection projects stood at 4.16 trillion yuan ($670 billion), accounting for 6.43 percent of total lending, according to CBRC. China's environmental industry is growing at 15 percent annually with total output value expected to hit 4.5 trillion yuan.
300 million yuan (US$46 million) were offered by The Asian Development Bank in partial credit guarantees to Shanghai Pudong Development Bank yesterday to facilitate lending for private-sector energy efficient building projects in China. The Shanghai-based joint stock bank is the first Chinese bank in an ADB initiated program to encourage loans to companies seeking to retrofit old buildings or construct new energy saving "green" buildings in China.