China's green loan expansion picks up in H1

BEIJING — The balance of China's green loans in local and foreign currencies stood at 13.92 trillion yuan ($2.15 trillion) at the end of June, up 26.5 percent year-on-year, the country's central bank said.

The growth rate was 1.9 percentage points higher than that at the end of March and 14.6 percentage points higher than that for all kinds of loans at the end of June, the People's Bank of China said.

Of the total, 67.3 percent of the green loans went to projects related to carbon emission reduction.

In terms of use, the balance of green loans for infrastructure upgrading stood at 6.68 trillion yuan, up 26.5 percent year-on-year, and that for clean energy was 3.58 trillion yuan, up 19.9 percent.

To pursue high-quality and green growth, China has announced that it would strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.