OREANDA-NEWS. May 16, 2014. The “2014 China Green Companies Top 100”, a cross-sector ranking for assessing the sustainable competitiveness of enterprises, was announced, and Industrial Bank (IB) stood out of more than 1,300 large SOEs, private enterprises and multinationals in China with “sustainable finance” and featured in the list for the fifth year consecutively, becoming one of the most listed companies.

It is said that the program of China Green Companies Top 100 was initiated by China Entrepreneur Club and has been issued for five consecutive years by now. The ranking of this year is characterized by “selecting based on economic indexes and short listing based on characteristic performance”. Listed enterprises need to have outstanding performance in the five aspects including “culture, economy, environment, society and innovation” and typical cases of performance in any of the three aspects including “environment, society and innovation” which are of demonstrative industrial and social effect.

Boosting the “Clean Water Program” and Singing the Highest Pitch of “Beautiful China”

In the “Report on 2014 China Green Companies Top 100”, the “Clean Water Program” of IB was selected as a typical case.

As revealed in the case, across 2013 the green finance of IB focused on the utilization and protection of water resource to boost the “Clean Water” Program constantly. The program provided Shuangliu County of Sichuan Province with financing of RMB 2 billion to support the construction of the comprehensive control project for water environment, granted loans of RMB 1.6 billion to Hefei of Anhui Province, to support its riverway regulation, provided Wujin County of Jiangsu Province with credit support of RMB 150 million for the transformation project of rainwater and sewage pipe networks of an industrial park.

By the end of 2013, IB has provided financing support of RMB 61.1 billion for the utilization and protection of water resource, which are estimated to reduce the emission of chemical oxygen demand (COD) by 901,200 tons and save water by 255.7906 million tons.

In practice, IB has kept enriching and improving the product and service system for “water control”, releasing comprehensive service programs integrating characteristic products (model), including contract environmental service based financing and franchise and business rights pledged financing, through basic product combination and innovation, so as to provide integrated solutions for the development and protection of water resources, water conservation, and construction and operation comprehensive facilities.

Besides the direct financing support for water control, IB also actively drove the construction of emission rights trading markets across China with a view to bringing into play the effect of pollution control by market-based means. Now, the Bank has signed cooperation agreements with 9 of the 11 provinces and municipalities establishing state-level carbon trading pilots. In the area of carbon finance, it also holds a leading position, entering into cooperation agreements with 6 of the 7 provinces and municipalities establishing state-level carbon trading pilots. Bringing into full play its advantages in green finance, the Bank provides a package of financial services including design of trading framework and rules, and depository and clearing of funds, thus promoting energy conservation and emission reduction by means of market-oriented methods and financial innovation.

To boost local energy conservation and emission reduction and offer ideas on regional transformation, IB launched the campaign of “Beautiful China Tour • Green Finance” in 2013, which reached 12 provinces and municipalities and lasted for 224 days. Signing agreements with the development and reform commissions, environmental protection departments or leading energy conservation and emission reduction enterprises of 12 municipalities including Shijiazhuang, Jinan, Chongqing, Harbin, Ningbo, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Urumchi, Nanjing, Wuhan, Changsha, and Huhhot, the Bank promised to provide green financial support of over RMB 300 billion to the above regions during the “12th Five-year Planning” period, singing the highest pitch in the banking sector to support the building of “Beautiful China” with its actual actions.