China pilots low carbon bonds to help companies become greener

[June 06, 2022]  SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China is rolling out so-called low carbon transition bonds to help companies become greener, the country's interbank bond market regulator said on Monday, as Beijing strives toward carbon neutrality.

A worker wearing a face mask works on a production line manufacturing bicycle steel rim at a factory, as the country is hit by the novel coronavirus outbreak, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China March 2, 2020. China Daily via REUTERS

Under the pilot scheme, companies in eight sectors including electric power, steelmaking, petrochemicals and civil aviation will issue bonds to fund decarbonisation efforts, the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII) said in a statement.

Such debt instruments supplement green bonds, and are part of China's sustainable financing, said NAFMII, which is supervised by China's central bank.

China, the world's biggest producer of climate warming greenhouse gas, has pledged to bring its emissions to a peak before 2030 and to become carbon neutral by 2060.

Proceeds from the transition bonds will be used to fund green efforts including cleaner coal production, the application of green technologies and the use of natural gas and clean energy, NAFMII said.

Companies including China Huaneng Group Co, Hualu Holdings and Baosteel have already issued China's first low carbon transition bonds, the Shanghai Securities News reported on Monday.

(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Andrew Galbraith, Editing by Louise Heavens)

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