Chinese climate finance gap to exceed 1t yuan by 2015

BEIJING -- An international climate report issued on Thursday said China will have to attract nearly 2 trillion yuan ($322 billion) in investment by 2015 in order to honor its commitment to fight climate change.

"By 2015, China's climate change financing will reach 1.96 trillion yuan and there will be an estimated financing gap of 1.2 trillion yuan," according to a report titled "Shaping China's Climate Finance Policy."

The wide financing gap will require the government to boost public financing. It also offers investment opportunities for the country's financial market and private capital, the report said.

The report is part of a research project sponsored by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and jointly conducted by the Climate Group and the Research Center for Climate and Energy Finance at China's Central University of Finance and Economics.

"China's climate financing remains in a primary stage. The domestic financial market, limited by management and administrative mechanisms, is not fully involved in it," said Wang Yao, a professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics and co-author of the report.

Wang said funds in the domestic financial market and private capital are the biggest potential source for China's climate financing.

"China should speed up the development of diverse climate financing products, including climate bonds, equity investment tools and climate insurance," said Wu Changhua, the greater China director of the Climate Group.

Su Wei, China's chief climate negotiator and director-general of the Department of Climate Change under the National Development and Reform Commission, said climate financing will have more development space, as China is building pilot carbon markets in seven provinces and cities and preparing for a national-level carbon trading platform.

The government pledged in its 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) to cut energy consumption per unit of GDP by 16 percent while slashing carbon emissions by 17 percent by 2015. Attaining these goals will help China meet its previous commitment to reduce its carbon intensity by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.