1、Carbon Trade Hot for BanksCan the initiation of carbon trade market bring any opportunities to the commercial banks？ The notice from Shenzhen Environment Exchanges said that the carbon trade market was officially initiated as of June 18. the first group of key players include 635 enterprises and ove
2、r 200 big public buildings. Additional information shows that Shanghai Energy Trade Center has entered the last period of implementing the plan of carbon finance market. “The first group of pilot enterprises include 197 enterprises， covering 16 industries， such as petroleum， steel， nonferrous metal，
3、 electricity and other industries （10 in total） ， as well as airlines， port， airport， hotel， etc （ six service-based industries）.” said an official from the Shanghai Energy Trade Center. Both organizations initiations of carbon trade were driven by the notice about carbon trade from the National Dev
4、elopment and Reform Commission. According to the notice， the pilot project of carbon trade must be started in 2013； the base of carbon trade market should be formed by 2015； and the nationwide trade should be fully available during the“13th Five-Year Plan” （2016-2020）. This made commercial banks， wh
5、ich has formed the professional operating system， see the new business opportunities. A source close to Shanghai Energy Trade Center said that many banks had already started to negotiate with the organization， hoping to be given the opportunity of cooperation. Active Chinese and Foreign Banks “Comme
6、rcial banks can develop the index of climate change， as well as financial products of carbon consumption. The activity is not limited to the corporate level， but also the private prod- ucts concerning carbon finance， such as the low-carbon consumption， loans for environment-friendly cars and green m
7、ortgage， ” said Lian Ping， chief economist of Bank of Communications. “In addition， commercial banks could think of directly and indirectly raising funds for new energy and clean technologies， ” Lian Ping added. Actually， there are pioneers in this field. An insider from Industrial Bank said that th
8、is bank has a department of sustainable finance has already built five professional teams of project financing， carbon finance， market research， technological service and Equate Principle examination. it built an assets operating platform combining product design， technological support， assets manag
9、ement， marketing organization， trading service and business cooperation. It is known that Industrial Bank has already raised over 10 million yuan for its green finance project， and has launched two kinds of services - financing for green projects and financial services for carbon emission. In additi
10、on， Industrial Bank has already established a major strategy of “dedicating to becoming a green bank with the all-process and wide-area professional financial services for the green finance market. Industrial Bank is joined with Shang-hai Pudong Development Bank， which also built a professional gree
11、n credit team. By the third quarter of 2012， this bank has already lent loans of 3.3 billion yuan to 53 green projects， including steel， cement， coal， chemistry， thermal power， administration， non-ferrous， ceramics， food， device manufacturing， communication and recyclable energy. Actually， many fore
12、ign banks are paying close attention to the carbon trade as well. A source close to Deutsche Bank said that this German bank is going to have close cooperative relationship with several environment protection organizations in China. “Foreign banks can help Chinese banks enter the fields they are not
13、 familiar with， such as the fundraising projects and capital lease. Chinese and foreign banks can closely work with each other in these fields. In addition， the cooperation between Chinese and foreign banks is not necessarily limited to the financial capital. In the long period of market development
14、 in the future， technological transfer could possible play an important role in the cooperation between Chinese and foreign banks， ” said an anonymous director of Deutsche Bank. Still in the Low End of Value Chain Lian Ping said that the projects of assets of China lacked the experiences of developm
15、ent. Thus commercial banks have no profound understanding of the carbon trade， and have to afford great risk of development and trade. So， banks are at a disadvantage in the cooperation. “This is mainly because the Chinese commercial banks are still offering single carbon finance business， which is
16、mostly in the downstream part with low value-added， and are rarely involved in the project consultancy and second-tier market.” “In truth， commercial banks in China do not fully understand the carbon trade， leading to the lack of spontaneous drive to develop this business. The development of carbon
17、financial needs great support of taxation， environment protection and foreign exchange management. But these supporting measures are extremely rare in China， which has not yet given out a complete plan of lowcarbon economic development and systematic guiding policies. Some initiated measures need to
18、 be further improved and refined， ” said Lin Boqiang， an expert of carbon finance working at Xiamen University. In his opinion， China has a huge carbon emission market， but has not pricing right in the international carbon market. Therefore， it has to accept the low carbon price fixed by foreign car
19、bon trade organizations. In addition， Chinese intermediary organizations and thirdparty approval organizations are still in the initial phase of development. They have little use in reviewing projects and purchasing of carbon emission right. This further restricts the development of carbon trade. In
20、 addition， many experts believe that the carbon trade in China is also hurled by the “severely regionalized market”. Each province has its own standard and refuses to meet each other on the half way. So， the central government is expected to issue a common and mandatory standard， forcing local gover
21、nments to cooperate， not compete， with each other. “There is no foundation for the development of futures in the Chinese carbon trade market， ” said Li Zhengxi， board chairman of Guangzhou Carbon Emission Rights Trade Center. In that field， China is far behind Europe， because of its lack of experiences.
