In the view of the interviewed industry insiders, with the increasing urgency of responding to global climate change, carbon finance is becoming a new development direction in the financial field.
With eight brokerages securing carbon market tickets and the official resumption of the national greenhouse gas voluntary emission reduction trading (CCER), the industry generally believes that 2024 will be a year of accelerated development of carbon finance innovation.
At present, the lack of liquidity and the obvious performance-driven phenomenon of the carbon market are inseparable from the small number of industries and carbon market participants included in the transaction, and the lack of financial derivatives. In particular, there is a lack of derivatives trading such as carbon options and carbon **, which is not conducive to the further activity and discovery of the carbon market.
In the view of the interviewed industry insiders, with the increasing urgency of responding to global climate change, carbon finance is becoming a new development direction in the financial field. Through capital allocation and investment, carbon finance will promote the development of a low-carbon economy and combat climate change.
Breed innovation continues
As the impact of climate change becomes increasingly obvious, countries have put forward emission reduction targets and low-carbon development strategies, and carbon finance as an innovative financial mechanism has emerged. Carbon finance includes carbon emission trading, green bonds, green investment and other varieties, which have the characteristics of market, policy and sustainability.
Since the launch of the local carbon emission trading pilot, carbon financial products and services have gradually developed, from basic buying and selling to more complex financial derivatives trading, and gradually formed a rich product system. Liu Liang, a researcher at the Financial Audit Institute of the State Grid Energy Research Institute, said in an interview with a reporter from China Energy NewsFrom the perspective of functional attributes, China's carbon financial products have covered the three major classifications of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, namely financing, trading and support. From the perspective of tool types, carbon financial products cover diversified product systems such as credit, bonds, and stock indexes.
Nowadays, carbon finance varieties are constantly innovating. For example, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank has landed CCER pledge credit business, and Bank of Qingdao Laiwu Branch has issued the country's first carbon emission loan ......
In Liu Liang's view, at present, although there are many types of carbon financial products and wide coverage, most of them are pioneering carbon financial products, which are not large-scale, and carbon asset mortgage financing loans are the most active carbon financial products. Whether it is an enterprise or a financial institution, it will be the core of innovation and development. This kind of financial instrument for the purpose of satisfying financing is more likely to be tried and generally accepted by the market because of its low risk, controllable credit and mature model.
*Zhang Xiaoping, deputy director of the China Environmental Finance Law Research Center of the University of Finance and Economics, said in an interview with China Energy News that rich carbon financial products can help meet the needs of market players in terms of risk appetite and hedging, and more fully explore the value attributes of carbon quotas and carbon credits, and release potential demand. In other words, there will be more layers of trading than before, which will increase market activity.
The financial attributes still need to be improved
The rapid development of the carbon finance market also faces some challenges. For example, the national carbon trading market is still mainly regarded as an emission reduction market, and its financial attributes and corresponding policy system still need to be improved. In addition, the market participants are not extensive enough, and the depth and breadth of the market need to be further expanded.
First, the main challenge for carbon finance is liquidity constraints. Liu Liang bluntly told reporters that the liquidity problem of carbon financial products is mainly caused by the immaturity of the market. Improving liquidity requires further opening up of the market and expanding the number of participants, while enhancing the depth and breadth of the market. Second, the enthusiasm of carbon asset participants is not high. Carbon asset owners, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, lack of understanding of the carbon market and mistaken belief that carbon price fluctuations have little impact on production and operation, resulting in insufficient carbon asset management capacity and many other factors, resulting in insufficient initiative and willingness to participate in the carbon market and carbon financial product trading. Thirdly, the lack of ability of financial institutions in the risk management of carbon financial products and the innovation of carbon financial products directly restricts the development of China's carbon finance market.
In addition, industry insiders generally believe that the resumption of CCER is a positive supplement to the liquidity of the carbon market and will help improve the carbon market mechanism. However, its impact on carbon financial products still needs to see market response and institutional support, and the matching of institutions and the expansion of the market are the key. Only by enriching carbon trading products can we better stimulate the development of carbon finance.
At present, China's rich spot market does not match the effective derivatives market, and the risk management capabilities and risk appetite of financial institutions are in a continuous development stage. In such a market environment, China pays more attention to risk control and stable development when promoting the carbon trading market and related financial innovation. "This approach reflects the sensitivity of the domestic financial system to risk and the need for stable development. Therefore, China's carbon finance market development strategy focuses more on establishing a stable link between the green and low-carbon transformation of the real economy and the financial market, ensuring that financial innovation serves the development of the real economy while controlling financial risks. Liu Liang said.
The overall development framework needs to be clarified
The reporter learned from the interview that the China Securities Regulatory Commission has classified carbon financial products, and there is no overall framework for the future positioning of carbon finance. Industry insiders generally suggest that top-level design should be carried out at the national level to clarify whether carbon finance should be used as a tool to assist carbon market emission reduction, or as a market with independent financial attributes. Industry insiders believe that the development of China's carbon finance market requires the joint efforts of enterprises, enterprises and market participants to form a favorable policy environment, perfect market mechanism and reliable service system.
The carbon finance market connects the two major fields of carbon and finance, and its development is affected by many factors. Liu Liang told reporters that the maturity of the financial market, the stability of the capital market, the risk management ability of financial institutions and the overall financial risk situation have an impact on the development of the carbon finance market. At the same time, the maturity, coverage, standardization and rationality of the carbon market also restrict the development of the carbon finance market. Therefore, only by taking these factors into account can the sustainable development of the carbon finance market be realized. "In my opinion, carbon assets are quite similar to oil, coal, etc., with both commodity and financial attributes. As an emerging field, carbon finance has brought new challenges to the financial market. If carbon trading matures and various industries and entities have a deep understanding of their operation, carbon finance will undoubtedly develop and grow. ”
Liu Liang also saidChina is currently striving to achieve the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, and the development of carbon finance should be linked to these long-term goals. Policy objectives need to be clear in order to provide a clear direction for the market to take. At the same time, coordination between departments should be strengthened to form a unified policy framework and regulatory system. In addition, it is important to clarify the dual nature of carbon assets, which can help market participants better understand and manage risks. The financial attributes of carbon assets should be strengthened through the design of policies and market mechanisms, and the effectiveness of their emission reduction functions should be ensured.
Chen Mingyang, director of the Energy and Climate Change Center of the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Environmental Policy Research and Planning, told China Energy News that in the brewing and construction stage of the national carbon market, many experts proposed financial products such as carbon ** and carbon options. However, an important premise for the development of carbon market derivative finance is the development and maturity of the carbon market, and the hasty introduction of carbon finance may have an impact on the policy positioning of the carbon market to control greenhouse gas emissions. At this stage, some enterprises managed by the national carbon market have been carrying out carbon finance innovations such as carbon asset offset loans. In the future, with the development and growth of the national carbon market, financial derivatives such as carbon ** and carbon options are expected to be gradually introduced to further improve the carbon market mechanism.
Text丨Reporter Sunan.
End Editor丨Yang Xiaoran.