"Transition finance" empowers the green and low-carbon development of Hebei Iron and Steel

Transition finance is an important path for green and low-carbon transition financing for iron and steel enterprises. On January 31, the Hebei Iron and Steel Industry Transformation Finance Bank-Enterprise Docking and Green Steel Certification Promotion Conference (hereinafter referred to as the Promotion Conference) was held in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province.

On January 31, the Hebei Iron and Steel Industry Transformation Finance Bank-Enterprise Docking and Green Steel Certification Promotion Conference was held in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province. Photo by Zhu Yansheng

Since 2023, the pace of high-quality development of the iron and steel industry in Hebei Province has accelerated, the high-end industry has been continuously promoted, the development of industrial intelligence has been accelerated, and the green and low-carbon foundation of the industry has been gradually consolidated.

At the promotion meeting, Song Xiang, deputy director of the Hebei Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, said to the party that in order to achieve carbon neutrality in the steel industry, it will be difficult to achieve it if it only relies on the steel industry itself to complete this task.

To promote the transformation of the steel industry, financial empowerment is an important guarantee. To this end, in 2023, in the process of planning the establishment of the Hebei Iron and Steel Industry Green Transformation Alliance, the Hebei Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology initially put forward the idea of taking the lead in developing steel industry transformation finance in the country after many times of communication with the Hebei Branch of the People's Bank of China, the Metallurgical Industry Information Standards Research Institute and other units.

At the end of 2023, seven departments, including the Hebei Branch of the People's Bank of China, the Hebei Provincial Development and Reform Commission, and the Hebei Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, jointly issued the Guidelines for the Financial Transformation of the Iron and Steel Industry in Hebei Province (2023-2024 Edition) (hereinafter referred to as the "Work Guidelines").

The Work Guidelines specify that from 2023 to 2024, Hebei Province's iron and steel industry transition finance will focus on supporting activities conducive to pollution reduction, energy conservation and carbon reduction in the steel industry, including iron and steel enterprises and downstream enterprises that purchase and use low-carbon emission steel products.

At the promotion meeting, Song introduced to the party that all financial institutions should support all low-carbon transformation iron and steel enterprises that meet the support conditions, and should not restrict the development of transition finance business because of the scale of the enterprise's production capacity or the existence of credit limits in the steel industry, which will effectively alleviate the problem of difficult and expensive financing for iron and steel enterprises.

He said that transition finance also supports downstream enterprises in the steel industry, and clearly provides low-interest rate credit support to enterprises that purchase low-carbon emission steel, so as to achieve the demand side to guide the production side and jointly promote the green and low-carbon transformation of the steel industry.

"Hebei is an important agglomeration area of China's steel industry, and it is also one of the areas with the heaviest task of low-carbon transformation of the steel industry. Zhang Longqiang, president of the Metallurgical Industry Information Standards Research Institute, said that the Metallurgical Industry Information Standards Research Institute will give full play to the role of the chairman of the Hebei Iron and Steel Industry Green Transformation Alliance, gather resources from all parties in the steel field, and provide whole-process service support in accordance with policy requirements in the pre-counseling of transformation enterprises, third-party evaluation of transformation plans, formulation of supporting financing plans, and continuous disclosure of enterprise information, so as to promote the implementation and implementation of the "Work Guidelines" and promote the green and low-carbon transformation of Hebei Iron and Steel.

At the promotion meeting, Li Gang, President of Shijiazhuang Branch of China CITIC Bank Co., Ltd., introduced that China CITIC Bank attaches great importance to transition finance and can provide customers in the steel industry with a comprehensive green finance service plan of "one-point access and group-wide response". Among them, China CITIC Bank can provide transition finance support through pre-project loans, project loans, current loans and other products, provide supply chain products such as asset pools and credit E-chains for iron and steel enterprises and upstream and downstream customers, and cooperate with CITIC Financial Leasing to provide sale-leaseback or direct leasing services for enterprises.

In addition, at the promotion meeting, Shenzhen Xinrun Fulian Digital Technology Co., Ltd., HBIS Group, Hebei Taihang Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. and Tangshan Donghua Iron and Steel Enterprise Group Co., Ltd. and other enterprises also made exchange speeches.