The first mutual recognition of carbon accounts in the financial industry unlocks new scenarios for green finance

　　On October 24, China UnionPay announced that it has recently cooperated with China CITIC Bank Credit Card Center to open up China UnionPay's "Low Carbon Plan" and "CITIC Carbon Account" services, realizing mutual communication and mutual recognition of carbon accounts in the financial industry for the first time. The reporter of China Securities News learned from China UnionPay and China CITIC Bank that at present, the "low-carbon plan" has provided services for nearly 2 million users, and the "CITIC carbon account" has more than 7 million registered users. Industry insiders believe that the opening of carbon accounts in the banking industry not only facilitates users to manage the carbon accounts of different banks in an integrated manner, but also provides support for the industry to establish a green finance evaluation system and provide more abundant green financial products.

　　Achieve mutual interoperability and recognition

　　According to China UnionPay, users can open the UnionPay Cloud QuickPass App, enter the "Bank Carbon Account" portal through the "Low Carbon Plan" mini program, and complete the authorization binding of the carbon account of China CITIC Bank, and can access and view the bank's carbon account information with one click. China UnionPay also said that the next step will be to deepen ecological cooperation, and cooperate with commercial banks to further enrich the content of bank carbon accounts and expand application scenarios.

　　The reporter of China Securities News learned that China CITIC Bank is one of the first commercial banks to launch individual carbon accounts, and its users have begun to take shape. According to relevant sources of China CITIC Bank, at present, the "CITIC Carbon Account" has more than 7 million registered users, and the accumulated carbon emission reduction has exceeded 5,900 tons.

　　On the whole, the operation mode of the carbon account is to quantify the user's energy conservation and carbon reduction behavior, convert it into carbon emission reduction credits, and link it to the corresponding rights exchange, etc., to encourage users to live a low-carbon life, such as users can accumulate corresponding green energy and carbon emission reduction activities in green scenarios such as bus and subway, bicycle travel, walking, online food ordering, online repayment and transfer, etc., and exchange green rights and interests.

　　Increase user engagement

　　Industry insiders said that carbon accounts allow users' green and low-carbon behaviors to be measurable and traceable, and make green consumption behaviors digital, visualized, assetized and valued. In the past two years, under the guidance of the "dual carbon" strategy, more and more banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions and Internet consumption platforms have launched personal carbon accounts to guide more users to participate in green consumption.

　　However, on the whole, due to the homogenization of individual carbon account services, the carbon accounts of financial institutions that lack social advantages are slightly less attractive to users, and their activity is still lacking. "Although I have opened a personal carbon account, I usually use the bank app less frequently, and the carbon account entrance is even less often visited. But because I often log in to Ant Forest to collect green energy, I use Alipay's carbon account almost every day. Ms. Liu, a user who opened a carbon account in Shanghai, said bluntly.

　　"The same user has similar personal carbon accounts across multiple financial institutions and internet consumer platforms. The credits formed by carbon emission reduction are scattered among various platforms, which cannot achieve mutual communication, mutual recognition and exchange, and the carbon credits that exist sporadically on each platform by users are essentially in an embarrassing situation of 'tasteless food and pity to abandon', thereby reducing the enthusiasm of users to participate. Relevant people from China CITIC Bank said that in this context, it is necessary to establish a mechanism for mutual exchange, mutual recognition and exchange of personal carbon account data to enhance the enthusiasm and sustainability of user participation.

　　Commenting on the mutual access and recognition, Zhou Maohua, macro researcher of the financial market department of China Everbright Bank, said: "It provides convenience for customers to manage carbon accounts and realize green rights. This is similar to UnionPay payment to stimulate the rapid development of payment and settlement business, which is conducive to the development of carbon account business in the industry. ”

　　Improve relevant standards

　　Although there are more and more participants, industry insiders believe that the further development of carbon accounts still faces certain bottlenecks, including the unification of accounting standards and improving the scientificity and authenticity of carbon emission data monitoring and measurement.

　　Zhou Maohua said that how to establish unified standards, account for carbon reduction in individual daily activities, how to reasonably convert them into personal carbon account credits, and how to commercialize and connect credits with industry activities such as banking and financial services still need further consideration.

　　"Due to factors such as discreteness of personal daily activity data and difficulty in collection, it is necessary to continuously improve relevant standards and technologies in the future to scientifically and accurately calculate personal carbon emission reduction; At the same time, it is necessary to optimize the realization of carbon account assets, trading market mechanisms and related incentive mechanisms, preferential policies, etc., to enhance people's enthusiasm for participation. Zhou Maohua said.

　　In addition, industry insiders also said that in the future, carbon accounts can be integrated with digital yuan to further promote the innovation of financial products and services.