The day-long “2007 China Summit Forum of Energy Conservation and Innovation in Green Financing” was successfully held in Beijing on November 27th, 2007. The forum, which was jointly held by the Industrial Bank, the IFC, the department of Resource Conservation and Environmental Protection of NDRC, the Energy Research Institute of the NDRC and the Financial News, saw the invitation of some 180 guests from a wide array of fields, including leadership from national commissions, departments and financial supervising bodies such as the NDRC, CBRC and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, leaders from executive departments of local government, high-ranking officials from International Finance Corporation, specialists from renowned research institutes and international investment organizations in the fields of environmental protection and energy conservation, representatives from international and domestic financial organizations, national industry associations and the industrial, commercial and corporate sectors from over 20 provincial, municipal and district administrative areas and journalists from the national mainstream media. Based around the themes of energy conservation, emission reduction and green credit, the forum saw dialogues and debates into issues such as how to implement national policies on energy conservation and emissions cutting and how to achieve sustained development through the innovation of financial products and services.
In his opening address, Industrial Bank President Li Renjie expressed that energy and environmental protection have become crucial issues that the global community is highly concerned about and committed to solving. Commercial banks are the main channel for social financing in China, and therefore, they have both the obligation and the power to play a major role in energy conservation and environmental protection. The Industrial Bank has taken advantage of its introduction of strategic investors from abroad over the past few years to learn from the approaches and experiences of modern international banks; it has been making headway in the development of sustainable finance and has been proactive in fulfilling its responsibility to society. In May 2006, the Industrial Bank signed a cooperation agreement with the IFC in regard to energy efficiency financing projects. This preceded the Industrial Bank becoming the first commercial bank in China to offer “Energy Efficiency Loans”. Furthermore, the bank claimed runner-up in the “Sustainable Deal of the Year” category of the 2007 Sustainable Banking Awards organized by the Financial Times (UK) and the IFC, becoming the first bank in China to receive this honor. This achievement has brought more glory to China's banking sector. Upon invitation, the Industrial Bank attended the UNEP FI 2007 Global Roundtable that was held in October in Melbourne, Australia. The event saw the signing of the Declaration of Financial Organizations Regarding the Environment and Sustainable Development, in which the signing parties offered a commitment that environmental factors would be taken into due consideration in all business activities and that sustainable development would be backed. The p urpose of this forum is to make a greater call on Chinese commercial banks to place emphasis on t he responsibilities that they have to society as well as sustainable development. The forum aims to make energy efficiency financing more commercial, promotable and sustainable through the in-depth discussion and brainstorming of those present, thereby making an even greater contribution to energy conservation and environmental protection in China.
Richard Ranken, IFC's Director for East Asia and the Pacific, gave an address in which he stated “We are happy to be here with the Industrial Bank and the other banks that we cooperate with in China to stand behind the launch of energy efficiency financing and the related commercial modals in China so as to confront the increasingly serious energy consumption problems facing the country”. Rachel Kyte, director of the IFC's Environment and Social Development Department, flew in especially from the department's Washington Headquarters for the forum. In an address to the forum, she said, “Coincidently, the triple benefits, i.e. “People, Planet and Profit”, that is proposed by the IFC is in sound accordance with China's developmental target of founding a harmonious society. We are committed to sharing the skills and experiences that we have gained from all around the globe with China, and we will develop more projects that are suited to China and more tools that are highly operable in order to create a “Green China”.
He Bingguang, vice-director of the department of Resource Conservation and Environmental Protec tion of NDRC, Dai Yande, vice-director of the Energy Research Institute of NDRC and Ye Yanfei, vice-director of the Statistic Department of CBRC offered interpretations of China's policies in energy consumption, emission cutting and environmental protection, energy utilization and the development of related industries and innovation in energy efficiency financing and supervising respective ly. Lewis William, senior manager at HSBC's Sustainable Finance Department and Andrew Aldridge, vice-president of Climate Change Capital China, briefed the forum on the latest trends of global sustainable finance and leading global experiences respectively. The forum saw impassionate discussions on the practice of green credit in China between the vice-director of the Shenzhen Bureau of Trade and Industry Zhang Lailin, the head of the Corporate Banking Department of the Industrial Bank, the head of the IFC China Energy Efficiently Finance Project, and representatives from energy efficiency finance companies such as the Shandong Shengdong Oil fields Machinery Company, Fujian Cement and China Anhui Conch Group Co, Ltd..
Attendees on all sides agreed that green credit has already become a major trend in the development of the international finance sector, and that Chinese banks should actively assume their responsibilities to society, work hard to innovate new financial tools, develop the green credit service sector and establish a green financial system with sustainable development as the goal, thus providing easy and highly-efficient financial services for energy conservation and environmental protection in China. Furthermore, attendees also called on all circles to create a more relaxed political and market climate for the innovation and promotion of green credit products and services like energy efficiency loans, and encourage domestic commercial banks to implement energy conserving and emission cutting policies by means of “Green Credit”.
Being the first commercial bank in China to offer energy efficiency products, the Industrial Bank has already launched energy efficiency services in Beijing , Tianjin , Shandong , Shanxi , Chongqing , Zhejiang and Fujian . According to statistics, the Industrial Bank has already issued 27 energy efficiency loans, representing a total sum of RMB 435 million Yuan. These loans are able to reduce consumption of standard coal by 540,700 tons annually, which in turn is able to cut annual carbon dioxide emissions by 1,842,500 tons. The Industrial Bank is currently making efforts to promote the rapid and continued development of its energy efficiency financing business, with the aim being to expand the scale and quality of energy efficiency projects, develop a brand and exert a greater influence. Moreover, the bank is also expected to make new breakthroughs in loan amount, finance model and business variety.