Xiangtan climate investment and financing pilot has achieved remarkable results
On September 23, we learned from the media briefing on climate investment and financing pilot in Xiangtan City that since it was successfully approved in August 2022 as the first batch of 23 pilot cities for climate investment and financing in the country and the only pilot city for climate investment and financing, Xiangtan has continuously improved the pilot management system and policy system, broadened funding channels, and created a green finance model. Climate investment and financing has achieved remarkable results.
The scale of climate investment and financing continues to expand. Xiangtan City makes full use of fiscal policies, effectively applies climate investment and financing tools, establishes a collaborative working mechanism between government, banks and enterprises, promotes the green development of financial instruments, innovates credit products, and guides increased lending in low-carbon fields. According to preliminary statistics, Xiangtan City has effectively guided 13.6 billion yuan to be invested in the field of climate change; promoted the implementation of 81 medium and long-term loan projects in the field of climate change, with a total investment of 16.602 billion yuan;7 companies have received 11.51 million yuan in pledge loans for emission rights, and 3 companies have received 542 million yuan in carbon emission reduction support tool loans; Hunan Tanzhou New Energy Company has received 1.36 billion yuan in photovoltaic project loans. As of the end of June 2024, the balance of green loans in Xiangtan City was 44.712 billion yuan, an increase of 26.875 billion yuan since the pilot, an increase of 151%. The pilot demonstration effect was promoted at this year's national climate investment, financing and carbon finance special training class.
The industry achieves green and high-quality development. Xiangtan City actively promotes the successful listing of new energy companies such as Yuneng and Chongde Technology. In 2023, the output value of the leading industries of Xiangtan City's new energy and automobile manufacturing industry cluster will be 109 billion yuan, an increase of 16.5%, and the profit will be 6.9 billion yuan, an increase of 16.3%. Two national-level green parks, 1 national-level industrial green demonstration enterprise, 13 national-level green factories, and 18 national-level green design products have been successfully established; Prefabricated buildings account for 43% of new buildings, which is 7 percentage points higher than the provincial target, striving to be a provincial-level pilot city for large-scale application of shallow geothermal energy buildings; it has been approved as a national green freight distribution demonstration city, and the proportion of clean energy buses has reached 100%, and new energy taxis account for more than 70%, leading the country.
The synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction is significant. Xiangtan City has established a list of ten major pollution reduction and carbon reduction projects, including Hunan low-carbon city pilot projects, key projects in carbon peak pilot cities, and climate investment and financing pilot construction projects to lead the construction of pollution reduction and carbon reduction. In 2022, energy consumption per unit of GDP will decrease by 3.5% compared with 2021, and carbon emissions per unit of GDP will decrease by 6.88%; in 2023, energy consumption per unit of GDP will decrease by 4.3%. The reduction of pollutants has been significantly enhanced. As of the end of 2023, the cumulative emission reductions of key projects in nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in Xiangtan City during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period have reached 7453 tons and 2137 tons respectively. NOx emission reduction has exceeded the "14th Five-Year Plan" target (6343 tons) ahead of schedule, and VOCs emission reduction has achieved nearly 90%(2394 tons) of the "14th Five-Year Plan" target. In 2023, the three indicators of ambient air quality comprehensive index, average concentration of PM2.5, and excellent air quality rate will all reach the best in history, and air quality will be significantly improved. From January to August 2024, the comprehensive index of ambient air quality in Xiangtan City was 3.368, and the air quality was the best result in the same period since monitoring data were available; the excellent rate in the city's Urban area reached 90.2%, and the number of excellent days reached 220, the highest in the same period since 2021.
Next, Xiangtan City will continue to make full use of financial support for carbon peak and carbon neutrality policy support, and provide financial subsidies for product carbon footprints, climate investment and financing risk compensation, climate investment and financing project loan discounts, climate-friendly financial institutions and enterprises, etc., further accelerate the construction of climate investment and financing project libraries, and promote the implementation of carbon reduction projects; Further strengthen departmental dispatch, accelerate the construction of climate investment and financing information service platforms, achieve efficient integration of functions such as industry-finance docking, policy publicity, and information collection, build a dynamically updated database of key climate investment and financing projects, and fully mobilize various capital services to deal with climate Change, provide more climate investment and financing "Xiangtan experience" for the green and low-carbon development and transformation of old industrial cities in central provinces.
