How to give full play to the "blood supply" function of green finance and develop new quality productivity? This newspaper interviewed Liu Jintao, associate researcher of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Chinese University
Recently, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized when presiding over the 11th collective study of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee that the development of new quality productive forces should be accelerated. Green development is the background color of high-quality development. We will continue to optimize the economic policy toolbox that supports green and low-carbon development, give full play to the leading role of green finance, and build efficient, ecological and green industrial clusters. So, how will the new quality of productivity lead the development of green finance? How does green finance promote the development of new quality of productivity by guiding the flow of funds? Focusing on related issues, this newspaper interviewed Liu Jintao, associate researcher of the Chongyang Institute of Financial Studies of Chinese University.
Liu Jintao is an associate researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of Chinese
China Environment News: In your opinion, how can new quality productivity lead the development of green finance?
Liu Jintao:In September last year, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed to "integrate scientific and technological innovation resources, lead the development of strategic emerging industries and future industries, and accelerate the formation of new quality productivity" during his inspection and investigation in Heilongjiang. New quality productivity is an important driving force to promote high-quality economic and social development in the new era, and it is a new industrial form and model. From the perspective of the industrial revolution, when economic development is in different stages, the production methods and production technologies on which it is based, as well as the corresponding social production relations, are different. Different from a single energy or technological revolution, and different from only mining promising strategic emerging industries, the development of new quality productivity requires systematically carrying out the transformation and upgrading of industrial ecological layout and production mode to achieve an innovation-driven industrial revolution.
New quality productivity is closely related to the future development direction of green finance. At present, China's economy has entered a new stage of high-quality development of Chinese-style modernization, and the characteristics of green, low-carbon, and digitalization are the internal requirements of high-quality development.
Economic development should not only achieve stable GDP growth, but also meet the growing cultural needs, health needs, and ecological environment needs of the people. The satisfaction of these needs depends on those new industries and new infrastructure that can lead and drive more to improve the happiness of residents, as well as in the context of diversified consumption scenarios and diversified needs, through policy guidance and market allocation, so that production activities can develop in the direction of innovation and cross-integration, so as to meet the hierarchical requirements of development goals. According to the statistics of the "China Green Finance Development Research Report 2023", the total amount of green investment and financing funds in China in 2023 will be about 5,315.777 billion yuan, so under the guidance of new quality productivity, green finance may provide financing support of at least billions of yuan for more new industries.
The green financial services corresponding to the new quality of productivity need to provide new financing support for the potential green and high-tech industries of the new quality of productivity. Since its birth, green finance has strong social and public goods attributes, and the development logic of new quality productivity is fully compatible with green finance. The essence of green finance to support the development of the industry is not limited to the profitability of the traditional financial industry, but also pays more attention to creating added value such as production efficiency, resource utilization, sustainability, and environmental friendliness.
China Environment News: Capital orientation is one of the cores of financial development. How does green finance promote the development of new quality productivity by guiding the flow of funds, and what typical cases in the field of green finance do you think meet the requirements of developing new quality productivity?
Liu Jintao:The development direction of green finance has been further upgraded from supporting green and low-carbon industries to cope with climate and environmental problems to improving the overall efficiency of economic development and promoting sustainable economic and social development. In order to better guide the flow of capital to the activities and fields that form and develop new quality productivity, green finance can further support the cultivation of new quality productivity by giving full play to the role of resource allocation, risk management, and market pricing.
First of all, green finance through the update and improvement of the industry support catalog, as well as the development of corresponding financing tools to continue to guide the accurate flow of funds to meet the requirements of new quality productivity of new energy, new materials, new manufacturing, new technology and other industries, to achieve the rational optimal allocation of credit resources, this process is also in the reverse drive to the green finance industry itself innovation and upgrading, expand the scope of green fund support, and guide the integration and development of green industry and high-tech industry.
Secondly, green finance innovation can help to provide risk identification and prevention for the cultivation of new quality productivity, give full play to the externality and social characteristics of green finance to reduce the diffusion and spillover of industrial risks, and make the flow of funds to new quality productivity more safe and efficient.
Finally, green finance will also play a role in market pricing for new quality productivity, and cultivate green, low-carbon, high-tech and other industries that need to focus on the development of new quality productivity, and their profit methods and asset values are different from traditional industries, such as the positive effect of negative carbon technology on the environment requires new financial measurement methods, and carbon emission rights and emission reductions are also new forms of financial assets, which require the innovative development of green finance for market pricing, so that the investment and financing activities of related industries can be carried out more smoothly.
In the field of green finance, those "deep green" industries, including clean energy, power batteries, green transportation, and carbon-negative technologies directly supported by green funds, actually meet the requirements of new quality productivity, which also shows that the cultivation of new quality productivity and the progress of the "double carbon" goal go hand in hand. For example, the export of new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar cells is "new three"; for example, the transition of the "two high" industries with transformation prospects to the form required by the new quality productivity requires more sufficient long-term transformation funds, and can also continue to move closer to the characteristics of the new quality productivity through technological upgrading and production transformation.
China Environment News: In accordance with the requirements of developing new quality productivity, how do you think green finance should play a leading role in building efficient ecological green industrial clusters in the future? What measures should be taken in the use and optimization of the economic policy toolbox?
Liu Jintao:To build an efficient, ecological, and green industrial cluster, green finance needs to provide diversified financing support from the perspective of industrial chain and supply chain construction to meet the financial needs of different links in the industrial cluster.
First of all, it is necessary to guide funds to promote the sustainable infrastructure construction of industrial clusters, including increasing investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency improvement and environmental protection infrastructure in industrial clusters, attracting enterprises to build green industrial parks in specific areas, providing convenient policies, infrastructure and services, forming an agglomeration effect, and promoting the development of green industries.
Second, to strengthen the connection between green industrial clusters, the carbon market and the CCER market, one is to encourage some enterprises that are not "dark green" to further reduce carbon emissions, and the other is to encourage the industries covered by new quality productivity to realize the market transformation of relevant technologies and achievements on the basis of promoting low-carbon technology and green innovation development, such as realizing CCER project certification and establishing a market path for ecological value transformation mechanism.
Finally, the combination of eco-green industrial clusters with blockchain, artificial intelligence and other technologies can explore the development prospects of carbon footprint accounting and disclosure of the industrial chain, and also meet the requirements of new fields and technologies required by new quality productivity, and meet the requirements of scientific and technological innovation to play a leading role. Scientific and technological innovation is the primary driving force of new quality productivity, and strengthening the application and coverage of new technologies such as digitalization, intelligence, and networking in industrial upgrading will help integrate the development goals of new quality productivity into the construction of ecological green industrial clusters, so that industrial clusters can provide a good environment for cultivating new quality productivity.
In terms of the economic policy toolbox, we can focus on tax incentives, tax and fee reductions, and incentive mechanisms to provide support for ecological green industries, guide funds to support relevant industrial clusters through green credit policies, and carry out talent cultivation with the help of employment policies. At the same time, a dedicated green technology innovation fund could be set up to support R&D and innovation in green industries, encouraging the participation of the private sector in the form of long-term investment. In addition, it can also support and promote the establishment of industrial alliances in relevant green industrial clusters, promote horizontal cooperation between enterprises, and promote resource sharing, technological innovation and market expansion.
China Environment News: In order to accelerate the formation of new quality productivity, what aspects should be promoted to give full play to the "blood supply" function of green finance?
Liu Jintao:Green finance will play a core supporting role in cultivating new quality productivity, guiding various resources, including capital, to enter related industries in a steady stream.
First of all, it is necessary to study and formulate a catalogue of landmark industries that meet the requirements of new quality productivity, carry out industrial assessment of new quality productivity, consider the contribution of industry to innovation ability and sustainability in high-quality economic development, and strengthen compatibility with industrial policies, technological innovation policies, environmental protection policies, etc., so as to form a green finance case database of new quality productivity.
Secondly, an evaluation index system for green financing should be established in combination with the development goals of new quality productivity to achieve goal-oriented effects, which not only ensures that the evaluation system can fully reflect the sustainability, innovation and social benefits of green industries, but also promotes green financing to meet the development needs of new quality productivity, and encourages and supervises relevant financial institutions to carry out green investment and financing in the right direction. For example, environmental indicators such as carbon emission level, resource utilization efficiency, circular economy model, and ecological footprint of green projects, social benefit indicators such as job creation and community impact, and long-term and sustainability goals such as technology replicability, scale scalability, and information transparency.
At present, more than 90% of China's green financing is carried out in the form of green loans and green bonds, and some green technology innovation enterprises in line with the development goals of new quality productivity need equity, funds and other financing methods to provide initial funds, which requires the green financial market to explore corresponding products and tools.
