FT: Beijing spells out cost of meeting pollution targets

China needs RMB2tn (USD320bn) a year in investment over the next five years to meet targets on reducing pollution set by the ministry of the environment, the Financial Times reported yesterday.
According to the country’s central bank, a report on “green” finance issued Wednesday estimated that China’s budget covered only 15 per cent of the required investment, and called for carbon trading as well as financing tools such as loans, bonds and special funds for green projects, the FT detailed.
Ma Jun, a former Deutsche Bank economist who is now chief research economist for the People’s Bank of China and author of the report, wrote: “It is crucial that the financial system play the role of channeling and incentivizing private capital into the green sectors.”
Last week the ministry released a plan to address water pollution while detailed plans have already been released by provinces to meet air pollution goals set out in 2013.
China’s financing announcements as well as its five-year plans can be a mishmash of previously announced infrastructure projects and new pet schemes, making it hard to pin down how budgets have been allocated.
According to the FT, some of the recommendations are under way. China plans to combine seven city-based carbon trading pilots into a national scheme next year.
Developers may get preferential bank loans if their projects meet national priorities, including a goal for renewable energy to make up about a fifth of China’s installed capacity by 2020. Projects already announced include the $150bn construction of dozens of nuclear power plants, and plans to build hydropower plants on the few stretches of Chinese rivers that are not yet dammed, the newspaper specified.
Some green financing schemes have potential for abuse. For example, property developers can avoid lending restrictions by labeling their buildings “green” or “energy efficient”. Both concepts tend to be loosely defined.
Some of China’s goals are modest by developed-country standards, such as making 93 per cent of water supplied to cities “suitable for drinking” by 2020. Nonetheless, the targets require billions to be spent on water and sewage treatment alongside industrial upgrades.