Action plan released to support green development

The Shenzhen Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau, in collaboration with the city’s local financial management bureau, the ecological environment bureau, and the planning and natural resources bureau, has issued an action plan aimed at strengthening green finance in the banking and insurance industries.

This initiative seeks to enhance financial support for the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development in Shenzhen.

An panoramic view of Shenzhen. Photo from Shenzhen Special Zone Daily

The plan focuses on promoting green development in key areas. It aims to bolster support for Shenzhen's unique industries by providing financial services related to energy conservation, pollution reduction, carbon reduction, greening, and disaster prevention. The initiative will facilitate green and low-carbon development in the transportation sector by offering financial backing and insurance protection for research, manufacturing, application, and procurement in areas such as new energy vehicles, intelligent connected vehicles, rail transit, and the low-altitude economy.

Additionally, the plan supports energy-saving and carbon-reduction initiatives in urban construction by addressing the financing needs of green buildings, prefabricated buildings, and energy-efficient retrofitting of existing structures. It also aims to develop performance insurance for green buildings and ultra-low energy consumption buildings. The action plan highlights the establishment of a green manufacturing system that provides comprehensive financial services for green enterprises, projects, products, and factories while encouraging the green and low-carbon transformation of high-emission industries, as well as their digital and intelligent upgrades. Furthermore, it promotes the development of low-carbon marine industries and introduces financial innovations such as blue carbon pledge financing and blue carbon index insurance.

The plan explores financing opportunities through resource and environmental rights, including carbon emission rights, national certified voluntary emission reductions (CCER), pollution discharge rights, forestry carbon sinks, marine carbon sinks, and Shenzhen's carbon-inclusive certified emission reductions. It actively leverages Shenzhen enterprise carbon accounts to innovate green financial products and services tied to carbon performance, thereby creating an incentive system compatible with carbon reduction financial support.

the plan also introduces a differentiated insurance premium rate mechanism, linking premium rates to customer ESG risk statuses and carbon emission levels. To enhance climate change resilience, it promotes the development of catastrophe insurance, compulsory environmental liability insurance, meteorological index insurance, and carbon sink insurance. It will also encourage products such as "climate loans," "carbon reduction loans," and intellectual property pledge financing for enterprises that achieve high ratings in the national (Shenzhen) climate investment and financing project database as well as in Shenzhen enterprise carbon accounts.