The carbon financial market is in its infancy. At present, there are Beijing Environment Exchange, Shanghai Environment Exchange, Tianjin Emissions Exchange and Shenzhen Environment Exchange in China, mainly engaged in carbon emissions trading based on CDM projects, with an average annual carbon trading volume of 2.25 billion US dollars, while the scale of carbon finance in the international market has reached141900 million US dollars. Generally speaking, the development paths of carbon governance, carbon trading, carbon finance, carbon service and carbon currency binding in China are still in the initial stage, and the financial institutions in China have not fully participated in the development ideas of solving environmental problems. There are also a series of problems in the development of carbon trading and carbon financial products, such as the lack of legal system, imperfect supervision and verification system and so on. The domestic carbon trading and carbon finance market has not been fully developed, and the standardized trading contract has not been formulated, which is far from the types and scale of business carried out by European and American carbon exchanges at present.
The carbon financial market has broad prospects for development. China is implementing the development strategy of transforming the mode of economic development and building a "two-oriented society". In the past, the extensive development model of "three highs" (high input, high energy consumption and high growth) was unsustainable, and it must be transformed into an intensive development model of "two lows and one high" (low input, low energy consumption and high growth). At the same time, the government of China attaches great importance to the responsibility and obligation of carbon emission reduction. At the Copenhagen conference, the government of China solemnly promised that by 2020, the carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP would be reduced by 40%-45% compared with 2005, and it would be incorporated into the long-term planning of national economic and social development as a binding indicator. This commitment reflects China's sense of responsibility and great country demeanor in strengthening carbon governance, and fully demonstrates China's determination to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to this goal, China's carbon trading and carbon finance will have a huge development space in the next few years. In particular, China's regional and urban-rural economic and social development is extremely unbalanced, which also creates conditions for China to actively participate in the international carbon financial market and create domestic carbon trading and carbon financial markets. The absence of carbon financial market in China makes the pricing power of carbon assets lack. The lack of pricing power of carbon assets in China has seriously affected the economic interests of Chinese enterprises. For developed countries, the adjustment of energy structure, technological transformation of energy-intensive industries and equipment renewal all require high costs. The greenhouse gas emission reduction cost per ton of carbon is above $ 100, and the emission reduction cost can be reduced to $20 by investing in CDM projects in China. In particular, the intermediary market of carbon finance is in the primary stage, which fails to play the role of finance in risk assessment and management and price discovery, and makes China passively accept the one-way quotation of carbon assets in Europe and America. According to the statistics of the World Bank, the demand for outsourcing greenhouse gas emission quotas in industrialized countries in 2007 was about 300 million tons, and the average price was in the range of 15-20 euros. As the largest supplier of carbon emission rights, the price of China is much lower than this price range, and the current carbon trading price of China is maintained at around 10 Euro. Some items are even lower. For example, in July 2006, the Italian Carbon Fund purchased about 650,000 tons of carbon dioxide emission reduction in 10 from Nangang through the World Bank at a price of not less than $6.25 per ton. In order to prevent China's carbon assets from being "sold cheaply", the National Development and Reform Commission offered the lowest price of 8 euros per ton of carbon dioxide for CDM projects. In June 2007, Baosteel sold 5438+ 10 to Credit Suisse International Group and Ruitan Co., Ltd. in Britain, and the carbon dioxide emission reduction only slightly exceeded 10 euros; In June 2009, the spot price of CERs sold by China to EU buyers was 1 1 Euro; Although the price of carbon emissions in the international market decreased in 2009, the futures price of one ton of carbon dioxide due in February 2004+2065438 still reached 19 euros in the EU quota market.
In fact, since China has not formed its own carbon financial market, the pricing power of China's carbon assets is in the hands of European and American demanders. CERs supplied by China were purchased by investment institutions in developed countries, packaged and developed into higher-priced financial products, derivatives and collateral, and earned huge profits.
Single CDM supply and low-cost emission reduction field make China in the low-end market. Before 20 12, the carbon trading market in China was mainly the supply of CERs for CDM projects. After 20 12, China must bear certain responsibilities for carbon emissions. According to the World Bank report, China is already the largest carbon emitter. With the gradual fulfillment of China's carbon emission reduction commitment, China is likely to become an importer of carbon emission rights in the future, when the purchase price of carbon emission rights is likely to be much higher than the current export price. Moreover, the low-end market of carbon trading in China is also manifested in the fact that emission reduction products are mostly concentrated in the low-level emission reduction field, which makes China's carbon emission products become a buyer's market subject to the needs of foreign enterprises. The existing clean development mechanism projects in China mainly focus on new and renewable energy, energy conservation and energy efficiency improvement projects. These projects have low emission reduction cost, low investment, stable technology and high income expectation, and most of them are investment projects that foreign investors are keen on, while less investment is made in projects with high emission reduction cost, complex technology, large investment and long benefit period, such as garbage incineration power generation, afforestation and reforestation, and HFC-23 decomposition and elimination projects. According to the relevant data of China Clean Development Mechanism Network, especially the uncertainty of the framework of Kyoto Protocol after 20 12, the restrictions on the qualification of CDM projects in the third stage of the EU carbon trading system, the long waiting period and high transaction costs, the scale of CDM transactions is characterized by a decline, so it is more forward-looking and urgent for China to carry out domestic carbon trading and carbon finance market.
The development of carbon financial market puts forward higher requirements for financial institutions and financial talents in China. The subject matter of carbon finance is virtual products, the trading rules are strict, the development procedures are complex, the sales contract involves overseas customers, the contract period is long, and the technical requirements for risk rating are high, so it is difficult for non-professional institutions to be competent for the development and implementation of carbon finance projects. For example, both the clean development mechanism and the joint implementation mechanism involve certification of emission reduction units. If the emission reduction project fails to pass the certification, it will lead to delivery risk and reduce the expected return on investment. In order to ensure the attractiveness of the project to investors, it is necessary to be familiar with the certification standards and procedures of the country where the emission reduction unit is located and the country where the specific project is located, and to understand the policies and laws of relevant countries; At the same time, it is necessary to rate the delivery risk and policy risk and provide guarantee. Such comprehensive financial institutions and compound talents are very scarce in China at present.
Moreover, the inadequate development of China's financial market not only limits the effective docking and development of carbon finance, but also lacks financial service talents with higher risk requirements, stronger professional service ability and more professional foreign-related service level. Generally speaking, China has not established an effective carbon financial trading system, nor has it established a domestic carbon trading market or carbon trading platform. Carbon funds, carbon futures, carbon securities and other innovative carbon financial products have not yet been developed, which makes the carbon trading market lack a reasonable interest compensation mechanism and fails to give full play to the price discovery and risk management functions of carbon finance on carbon assets. In the field of low-carbon energy conservation and environmental protection, there is little gap between China and developed countries, and they are basically at the same starting line.
Lack of mental preparation and national strategy to participate in fierce competition. Carbon finance has a broad potential value-added space, and the innovation and competition of international financial institutions in this field will become increasingly fierce. Judging from the current degree of market development, EU countries try first and temporarily lead the market. For example, the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) accounts for more than three quarters of the global carbon trading volume. ETS controls the pricing power of EUA futures and options; London's position as one of the global carbon financial centers has been established. Although there is no carbon quota trading market strictly regulated by the government in the United States, in 2008, the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states of the United States formed the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to form the Voluntary Emission Reduction Unit (VER), and RGGI is now the second largest quota trading market in the world.
Especially as the most important pricing currency and reserve currency, the role and position of the United States in developing and participating in the international carbon financial market are increasingly prominent. Based on the Chicago Climate Exchange and RGGI regional greenhouse gas emission reduction actions, American financial institutions can more conveniently develop carbon financial products and expand the carbon financial market. The main bodies of the international carbon financial market are basically European and American financial institutions. In recent years, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and other countries have also launched some carbon financial services and products to join the competition in the international carbon financial market. For example, Japan uses its advanced carbon emission reduction technology to use Japanese yen as the price in Japan's carbon exchange. Australia can develop a carbon financial market based on the New South Wales trading platform. All countries are actively building their own carbon financial markets; It seems that all countries are paying attention to the development strategy of carbon currency, that is, actively binding sovereign currency with carbon trading, carbon assets and carbon finance to enhance the international status of currency.
3. 1 China's "carbon finance" market contains huge business opportunities.
According to the calculation of relevant experts, 20 12 years ago, the transfer income of emission reduction through CDM projects in China could reach billions of dollars. Therefore, China has been regarded as the most potential emission reduction market by many countries. Then, the CDM-based "carbon finance" should have a very broad development space in China, which contains huge business opportunities.
At present, the main type of carbon emission trading in China is project-based trading, so in China, "carbon finance" refers to financial activities relying on CDM. With more and more China enterprises actively participating in carbon trading activities, China's "carbon finance" market has greater potential.
For developed countries, energy structure adjustment, technological transformation and equipment renewal in high energy-consuming industries all require high costs, and the cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions is above 100 USD/ton of carbon. If CDM activities are carried out in China, the cost of emission reduction can be reduced to $20/ton of carbon. This huge difference in emission reduction costs has prompted enterprises from developed countries to actively enter China to seek cooperation projects.
As a developing country, China does not need to undertake emission reduction obligations before 20 12. According to the CDM mechanism in Kyoto Protocol, all greenhouse gas emissions reduced by China can be converted into valuable commodities and sold to developed countries. China's 11th Five-Year Plan clearly states that by 20 10, the energy consumption per unit of GDP will be reduced by 20% compared with 2005, and the total discharge of major pollutants will be reduced by 10%. In the process of striving to achieve this goal, a large number of projects will be developed into CDM projects by vigorously popularizing energy-saving and emission-reduction technologies and striving to improve resource utilization efficiency. According to the statistics of the United Nations Development Programme, the CO2 emission reduction provided by China currently accounts for about 1/3 of the global market. It is estimated that by 2065,438+02, China will account for 465,438+0% of all emission targets issued by the United Nations.
3.2 obstacles to the development of carbon finance in China
First of all, the understanding of CDM and "carbon finance" is not in place. With the rise of the international carbon trading market, CDM and "carbon finance" have entered China, but their spread in China is limited, and many domestic enterprises have not realized the huge business opportunities contained in them. At the same time, domestic financial institutions are not familiar with the value, operation mode, project development and trading rules of "carbon finance". At present, except for a few commercial banks, other financial institutions rarely set foot in "carbon finance".
Secondly, the intermediary market is underdeveloped. Carbon emission reduction under CDM mechanism is a virtual commodity with strict trading rules and complicated development procedures. Sales contracts involve overseas customers, and the contract period is very long, so it is difficult for non-professional organizations to develop and implement such projects. In foreign countries, the evaluation of CDM projects and the purchase of emission rights are mostly completed by intermediaries, while domestic local intermediaries are still in the initial stage, so it is difficult to develop or digest a large number of projects. In addition, there is a lack of professional technical consulting system to help financial institutions analyze, evaluate and avoid project risks and transaction risks.
Third, the development time of CDM project is long and there are many risk factors. Compared with general investment projects, CDM projects need to go through more complicated approval procedures, which leads to a longer development cycle and an increase in transaction costs. In addition, the development of CDM projects involves many risk factors, including policy risk, project risk and CDM-specific risk. Policy risks come from changes in international emission reduction policies, such as whether China will undertake greenhouse gas emission reduction obligations after 20 12, which determines the validity of the contract after 20 12; Project risks are mainly engineering construction risks, such as whether the project is completed and put into production on schedule and whether resources can be generated as expected. In the project operation stage, there is still the risk of monitoring or verification, so the project income is uncertain, which will also affect the financial service support of financial institutions.
3.3 Industrial Bank Carbon Finance Practice
In May, 2006, Industrial Bank cooperated with the International Finance Corporation to launch "green credit" for energy-saving and emission-reduction projects in China for the first time in view of the financing demand characteristics of energy-saving technology application and circular economy development in China. By the end of March 2008, Industrial Bank had opened 5 1 loan for energy conservation and emission reduction in 11 provinces and cities, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Shanxi, Chongqing, Zhejiang and Fujian, with a total investment of over 654.38+0.2 billion yuan. It can save standard coal 1.4748 million tons and reduce carbon dioxide emission by about 4 1.285 million tons every year.
With the rapid promotion of energy-saving and emission-reduction loans, some energy-saving and emission-reduction projects have entered the carbon emission-reduction trading market. Based on the initial experience accumulated in financing mode, customer marketing and risk management, Industrial Bank combined energy-saving and emission-reduction loans with "carbon finance" and innovatively launched a financing mode of energy-saving and emission-reduction "carbon finance" with CERS as one of repayment sources under CDM mechanism, providing a new choice for energy-saving and emission-reduction enterprises seeking financing support.
A typical case in this regard is the biogas recovery and treatment project of a company's landfill in Shenzhen. The company successfully introduced Canadian technology and upgraded and developed 3R recycling technology suitable for comprehensive treatment of municipal waste landfill. Biogas, a greenhouse gas directly discharged into the atmosphere, was recycled as energy, which was successfully implemented in Meizhou Landfill (Phase I) in 2005 and registered as a CDM project in the United Nations that year. As the company belongs to the "light assets" technology service company, with small assets, low operating income and high asset-liability ratio, it is difficult to meet the medium and long-term capital needs of the second phase project expansion through traditional loan operation. In order to solve the financing problems encountered by the traditional loan model, Industrial Bank uses innovative ideas and project financing model, pays attention to the effectiveness of the first repayment source, takes the business situation and cash flow of the enterprise as the main consideration factors for loan approval, and chooses the repayment period according to the cash flow of project implementation and the business situation of the enterprise itself, so as to match the repayment time with the scale and time of cash flow income, and better solve the repayment pressure problem of the enterprise. In the end, it provided the company with a three-year loan of 7.5 million yuan for energy conservation and emission reduction projects. The implementation of this project can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 6.5438+600,000 tons per year, achieving a win-win situation of economic benefits and environmental benefits. The successful operation of this project financing reflects the new breakthrough of Industrial Bank's energy-saving and emission-reduction loan model in environmental finance innovation, marks the expansion of Industrial Bank's energy-saving and emission-reduction project loans to the field of "carbon finance", and lays the foundation for exploring emerging businesses such as carbon factoring in the future.
3.4 Adjustment and improvement of carbon finance development mechanism
(1) Build a trading platform. Greenhouse gas emissions are limited environmental resources and strategic resources for national and economic development. Learn from the international carbon trading mechanism, further study and explore the emission quota system and develop the emission quota trading market, find out the price function through the financial market, adjust the interests of different economic entities, encourage and guide the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure and the transformation of economic growth mode, effectively allocate and utilize national environmental resources, and implement energy conservation, emission reduction and environmental protection.
(2) Strengthen publicity and promotion. Enterprises should fully realize the great value of CDM mechanism and energy saving and emission reduction, and urge project owners and developers to expand international cooperation and actively develop CDM projects according to their own development plans, so as to maximize the national environmental resources and corporate interests.
(3) Promoting policy research. CDM mechanism involves not only the environmental field, but also complex knowledge such as economics, law and management. , but also has a strong practicality and operability. As a big emitter of greenhouse gases, China needs to study the potential and scale of its participation in CDM projects.
(4) Cultivate the intermediary market. Intermediary market is the key to the development of CDM mechanism. Private institutions and financial institutions should be encouraged to enter, and the role of financial institutions as financial intermediaries and transaction intermediaries should be valued, allowing financial intermediaries to purchase or jointly develop CDM projects with project owners.
(5) Build an incentive mechanism. "Carbon finance" has the characteristics of strong policy, high participation and wide coverage. Developing "carbon finance" is a systematic project, which requires the government and regulatory authorities to formulate a series of standards and rules according to the principle of sustainable development, provide corresponding investment, taxation, credit scale-oriented policies, encourage financial institutions to participate in investment and financing activities in the field of energy conservation and emission reduction, and support the low-carbon economy.
Tianjin: Innovative Test Water Carbon Finance
Since 20 13 Tianjin Emissions Exchange officially launched carbon emissions trading, 1 14 enterprises in five industries, such as steel, chemical industry, electric power and heat, and petrochemical industry, have become the main bodies of Tianjin carbon trading market. It is understood that among the seven pilot provinces and cities identified by the state, Tianjin is the only municipality directly under the central government that simultaneously participates in low-carbon provinces and cities, greenhouse gas emission inventory preparation and regional carbon emission trading pilot.
Experts said that Tianjin's industrial structure is distinctive, its heavy and chemical industry features prominently, and its energy consumption and carbon emissions are outstanding in quantity and volume. Different from other pilot areas and first-tier cities, which have completed or are greatly reducing the energy consumption and carbon emissions of industrial enterprises, Tianjin is in the stage of rapid economic growth, which is a typical representative of China's economic development, energy conservation and emission reduction situation and development stage. Therefore, it is more typical and sample significance to carry out the pilot of carbon emission trading in a city with rapid economic growth and low total carbon emissions.