Nanshan Administration of Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment: "Double carbon" work is what we must do

Special support measures for green and low-carbon development at the district level have been introduced, and a signing meeting for green finance cooperation in Nanshan District has been held to promote the financialization and productization of carbon assets...... Relying on the ideological consensus of "promoting carbon peak and carbon neutrality, it is not what others want us to do, but what we must do and take the initiative to do", the Nanshan Administration of Shenzhen Ecological Environment Bureau (hereinafter referred to as Nanshan Administration) has actively innovated in the practice of "double carbon" and has been awarded the title of "Advanced Collective of National Ecological Environment System".

The picture shows the staff of the Nanshan Administration of the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment. Photo courtesy of the interviewee

Special support to promote green and low-carbon industries

"In a developed city like Shenzhen, the industry needs to be more green and low-carbon. Because Shenzhen has a dense urban population and industry, in order to achieve high-quality development in a limited space, it is necessary to take more effective energy-saving and carbon-reduction measures to accelerate the green and low-carbon transformation of the industry. Zhang Xingzheng, director of the Nanshan Administration, told reporters.

Enterprises are the key to the green and low-carbon development of the industry, and supporting enterprises has become an important starting point for the Nanshan Administration to implement the "double carbon" work. In 2023, a total of 21 enterprises in Nanshan District have received special support for green and low-carbon development at the district level, and enterprises that meet relevant conditions have received up to 500,000 yuan in support funds.

However, this is the first of its kind in Shenzhen, and it is rare in the whole country, and it is also a challenge for the staff of the Nanshan Administration to adopt the selection criteria, who go into the enterprise research and try to incorporate the company's good green and low-carbon methods into the evaluation criteria.

There are various types of enterprises in Nanshan District, including production-oriented enterprises and R&D enterprises, and each enterprise has different production processes and green and low-carbon practices. On the basis of fully studying the relevant standard systems at home and abroad, the Nanshan Administration Bureau conducted in-depth visits and exchanges with different types of enterprises, incorporated the green and low-carbon good experience and good practices collected during the visit into the evaluation standards, and combined with expert opinions, assigned different scores to different standards. After more than half a year of polishing, the selection criteria were finally released.

One of the most important items in the standard is environmental disclosure, of which carbon disclosure is related to "dual carbon". In the first round of selection, a total of 10 companies in Nanshan District took the initiative to carry out carbon disclosure. Carbon disclosure refers to the regular disclosure of a company's greenhouse gas emission units, which is a key part of measuring a company's efforts to reduce emissions. Zhang Xingzheng is very happy to see so many enterprises taking the initiative to disclose carbon emissions, and he hopes to use special support funds as an incentive to attract more enterprises to green and low-carbon development, and help achieve the "double carbon" goal.

Through the support of green and low-carbon enterprises and products, green and low-carbon projects, green and low-carbon management, green and low-carbon activities, Nanshan District has effectively guided the green and low-carbon industrialization of industries, and the first batch of green and low-carbon enterprises to support have helped the low-carbon and sustainable development of the supply chain and industry through measures such as implementing low-carbon supply chain management, promoting green and low-carbon product design, and promoting waste recycling, and promoting the green, low-carbon and high-quality development of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain.

Exchange carbon for money and promote the financialization and productization of carbon assets

In addition to the green and low-carbon special support, the Nanshan Administration also has a bold attempt to help enterprises use carbon assets to pledge loans and exchange carbon for money.

"In the field of green and low-carbon, enterprises are generally faced with practical problems such as insufficient collateral and high financing costs. Li Runyou, chief of the natural ecology section of the Nanshan Administration, told reporters. In order to help enterprises solve practical difficulties, the Nanshan Administration continues to explore how to play the leverage and leverage role of "green finance" between "lucid waters and lush mountains" and "gold and silver mountains", help green development, promote the financialization and productization of carbon assets, and guide funds to tilt towards clean energy and carbon emission reduction.

In November 2023, a special financial signing meeting was held at the Shenzhen International Low Carbon City Forum, and a company was successfully approved for a 30 million yuan carbon emission rights pledge loan through carbon quota pledge, which was specially used for green ecological projects.

This carbon-for-money method is very new for enterprises, and it is also an innovation for the Nanshan Administration. They took the initiative to connect and promote Shenzhen Guarantee Group to launch carbon asset securitization products, issue loans to enterprises based on the pledge of carbon emission rights, and use the expected future income of carbon assets as the support for financing through the issuance of market-circulating securities, and the contract claims formed as the underlying assets to carry out asset securitization.

But not all businesses can take advantage of this method to exchange money. Before signing the contract, the Nanshan Administration Bureau screened the key carbon emission control enterprises in the jurisdiction one by one, cooperated with the bank to carry out on-site visits, and conducted a detailed background investigation on the carbon surplus, credit status, capital needs and so on of the enterprises. The staff insisted on door-to-door preaching of policies and products, and repeatedly mobilized enterprises to be "the first to eat crabs".

The signing of this agreement means that the country's first small and medium-sized enterprise carbon emission rights asset securities ABS project was officially launched, realizing the breakthrough of carbon asset securitization ABS business from "0" to "1", helping enterprises to revitalize carbon assets and broaden financing channels through carbon emission rights and other carbon asset pledges, encouraging enterprises to use funds for green ecological projects and energy-saving transformation, and effectively guiding funds to flow to green development fields such as energy conservation and emission reduction.

In order to solve the financial problem of enterprises, the Nanshan Administration Bureau organized the first green finance government-bank-enterprise matchmaking meeting in Shenzhen as early as 2021, and promoted the green and low-carbon management of construction projects, green finance innovation and green technology research through the government. Relying on the "financial station", Nanshan District has issued more than 2.92 billion yuan of cooperation to 657 enterprises, fully supporting the growth of inclusive small and micro enterprises and effectively alleviating the financial pressure of enterprises.

"In the future, we will actively innovate the working mechanism and make more contributions to the realization of the 'dual carbon' goal. Zhang Xingzheng said.