China's central bank allocates over 85 bln yuan to support carbon reduction

China's central bank on Thursday said it has issued the first batch of funds to financial institutions via its newly launched carbon-reduction tool, the country's latest move to cut carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) has provided 85.5 billion yuan (about 13.43 billion U.S. dollars) to financial institutions, which provided 142.5 billion yuan to firms in carbon-reduction loans, PBOC official Sun Guofeng told a press conference.

Given that coal remains the country's dominant energy source, Sun emphasized the need to optimize new-energy applications while strengthening the clean and efficient use of coal power.

The PBOC provides low-cost loans for financial institutions through the carbon-reduction supporting tool, and guides those institutions to provide loans to firms in key carbon-reduction fields on the premise of independent decision-making and risk-taking, according to a statement released by the PBOC in November.

The bank provides 60 percent of the loan principal offered by financial institutions for carbon-emission cuts, with a one-year lending rate of 1.75 percent, the statement said.