China Development Bank receives first funds through carbon reduction tool

BEIJING -- The China Development Bank has received 10.267 billion yuan ($1.62 billion) of funds from the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, through a supporting tool for carbon reduction.

The tool was rolled out in November last year by the central bank to provide low-cost loans for financial institutions and guide them to give loans to firms in key carbon-reduction fields.

The funds the China Development Bank has received are among the first batch of funds worth 85.5 billion yuan that the central bank provides to financial institutions through the tool.

The central bank adopts "the system for direct funds," which means financial institutions could apply for this low-cost funding from the central bank after the loans for carbon reductions are made.

It will provide 60 percent of the loan principal made by financial institutions for carbon-emission cuts, with a one-year lending rate of 1.75 percent.

The move supports the development of clean energy, energy conservation, and carbon-reduction technologies, among others, and mobilizes more social funds to promote carbon-emission cuts.

The China Development Bank said it received this funding from the central bank for the 17.11 billion yuan in loans it provided to several clean energy projects in the July-November period last year.

Those projects, including an offshore wind farm in Guangdong, a pumped-storage hydropower station in Shandong, and a photovoltaic power station in Qinghai, will lead to an annual carbon reduction of 3.43 million metric tons.