Financial reform to boost green industry

But the governments, on their part, have to initiate institutional reform to ensure green loans enjoy favorable interest subsidies or can be directly invested in industries. Internet-based financing is another option that could make green investments more attractive.

Noticeably, China's photovoltaic industry has witnessed a slew of innovations in financing, especially given that photo-voltaic power stations are seldom taken as a stable asset capable of independently generating cash flows, because borrowers' status is still considered very important.

As a financing route of high interest rate and short period (involving individuals, and financial and non-financial institutions), crowd-funding is a feasible solution for distributed photovoltaic projects which yield decent returns and high electricity output and price. Yet unlike many person-to-person projects, photovoltaic power projects need more time to provide long-term benefits at relatively low expenditure.

Luckily, equity crowd-funding business in China is now under proper management, as the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued regulations in August to create a healthy and orderly e-financing environment and correct illegal activities.

The online crowd-funding platforms launched by Chinese e-commerce giants like Alibaba and JD.com raised much more money beyond market expectations. It is thus foreseeable that a reform is about to take place in the finance channels available to photovoltaic projects.

For many, apart from the public-private partnerships between governments and social capital, asset securitization is also a big investment and financing trend, because it focuses less on the status of enterprises, allowing those lacking creditworthiness to attract investment as long as they own prime assets to generate healthy cash flows.

Enterprises with decent creditworthiness might even spend less in getting funds from other sources than directly obtaining loans from banks, while providing tailored products to potential investors during a flexible maturity period. Still, China's green industry, as the aforementioned financing innovations in the photovoltaic power industry indicate, can get a real boost if it manages to use government-led financial reform along with the Internet-based finance channels.

The author is a senior campaigner for climate and energy, Greenpeace East Asia.