Green finance as a brush: Industrial Bank paints a new chapter in ecological cultural tourism

Sourced from: China Securities Journal · CnSnet

In Licheng District of Putian, after ongoing ecological restoration and governance, the Mulan River has once again regained the look of “Song Dynasty ancient waterway and Lijilin water town,” becoming a model of culture-and-tourism integration.

In Gulou District of Fuzhou, a large number of visitors stroll along the smart fitness trail, linger and wander around Fudao Park, and experience the deep integration of fitness and environmental protection, as well as the convenience of digital culture and tourism.

As the magnificent “Beautiful China” canvas unfolds, more and more people step out of high-rise buildings, set out on an ecological journey, enjoy natural scenery, and put into practice a greener, lower-carbon way of life. And behind this, the support of financial forces is indispensable.

As a forerunner in domestic green finance, Industrial Bank (Xingye Bank) actively implements the “Two Mountains” concept, based on local ecological resource endowments, and supports the integrated development of ecological conservation and culture tourism in accordance with local conditions. Currently, in the field of ecological protection and restoration and reuse, the bank’s green loan balance exceeds 86 billion yuan; in areas such as rural tourism and forest recreation, its green loan balance exceeds 6 billion yuan, contributing “Xingye strength” to the development of ecological and cultural tourism industries.

“Activate” ecological and cultural tourism resources

The “15th Five-Year Plan” proposal calls for “accelerating an all-round green transition in economic and social development and building a Beautiful China,” and also proposes “improving green consumption incentive mechanisms and promoting green and low-carbon lifestyles,” pointing the way for financial support to the development of green ecological and cultural tourism.

One mountain brings life to one city. Relying on Wuyi Mountain’s advantages of the “Two World Heritage Sites” and being the site of the first batch of national parks, Nanping City in Fujian has been accelerating the building of a “Greater Wuyi” cultural and tourism circle. During the promotion process, Industrial Bank implemented a financing project for the protection and development belt around the Wuyi Mountain National Park. It provided 138 million yuan in funding support for research-and-study bases and greening construction, helping enhance tourism branding in Wuyishan City. At the same time, Industrial Bank also created the “Wuyi Mountain Water and Green Jindan (Green Finance) Loan,” supporting the clustered development of rural industries such as Wuyi tea. It actively supports ecological restoration and protection along river channels in Wuyishan City, improves flood conveyance and waterlogging drainage capability, ensures river ecological integrity and habitats for aquatic and other organisms, and forms a scenic corridor of rock ravines and creek landscapes. As of now, Industrial Bank has cumulatively issued loans exceeding 1.76B yuan to green industries in Wuyi Mountain, strongly promoting the integrated development of finance and culture and tourism.

In Deqing County of Huzhou, Zhejiang, the culture and tourism industry around Moganshan is brimming with vitality, thanks to the construction of the Moganshan tourism and cultural upgrading project. Industrial Bank’s 250 million yuan credit support has become a strong driving force. Meanwhile, Industrial Bank also actively promotes deep integration between green finance and meteorological services. It has established a scoring standard for projects that are climate-ecology friendly, linking the loan interest rate during the loan duration to the score of climate-ecology friendly projects, thereby incentivizing borrowers to improve their capability to prevent and mitigate risks from meteorological disasters and actively promoting the transformation of the value of climate-ecology products. This not only accelerates the comprehensive rollout of Moganshan International Tourism Resort’s green upgrade plan, but also helps drive the development of local sightseeing and tourism economy.

With the spring breeze of integrated ecological conservation and culture tourism development, Industrial Bank has been actively supporting the protection and restoration of ecological resources. Since this year, the bank has increased green financial support for a series of natural and cultural landscape tourism projects, including ecological protection in Wuyi Mountain, protection of red-crowned cranes’ wetlands, ecological restoration of Tiancishan, protection of traditional villages in Emei Mountain, conservation-oriented operation of Hukou Waterfall, and maintenance of Shuping Danxia Scenic Area. It has promoted the construction of business projects such as scenic sightseeing and leisure experiences, cultural and sports activities, and health and wellness services, achieving sound economic and environmental benefits.

Enjoy green culture and tourism—stay and travel happily

Building green culture and tourism to empower sustainable living, Industrial Bank starts from all aspects of the entire culture-and-tourism industry chain, advocates environmental protection, increases support for green and low-carbon areas such as subways and public transportation, helps with the construction of hotels in tourist attractions and the upgrading of attraction facilities, and works to form lifestyle patterns such as green commuting and green consumption.

Green transportation is a key part of building low-carbon culture and tourism. In recent years, Industrial Bank has focused on priority areas for green and low-carbon development such as green transportation, and has worked to support construction of rail transit, shared transportation, and new energy charging piles. It has rolled out “net-zero emissions” operating loan projects in places such as Zhangzhou, Nanning, Changchun, and Nanchang, meeting the financing needs of public transport enterprises. It has also innovated by linking financing interest rates to the carbon emissions of bus operating companies, encouraging enterprises to participate in green commuting and low-carbon development. As of now, Industrial Bank’s green loan balance in the green transportation sector exceeds 100 billion yuan. It has upgraded green commuting facilities and empowered the development of the culture and tourism industry.

From green commuting to green living, Industrial Bank leverages green finance resources allocation to integrate green building design concepts into the construction of hotels, theaters, and attraction facilities. In Sanming, Industrial Bank provided 340 million yuan in loan support for green building in the Taishan Jinjiang International Holiday Hotel, adding new vitality to Taishan’s tourism industry. In Quanzhou, Industrial Bank has strongly supported green building construction for the comprehensive project of the “Maritime Silk Road” themed performing arts theater in Quanzhou. It provided 1.2 billion yuan in credit support; green loans offer preferential interest rates to enterprises, using financial strength to guide the culture and tourism industry toward high-end and green development.

In addition, in customer service, Industrial Bank actively promotes green concepts. Users can accumulate green consumption carbon points through personal carbon accounts to redeem low-carbon cycling cards, encouraging green commuting. Holders of green low-carbon credit cards can also participate in theme activities such as installments for new energy vehicles and discounts for shared bicycles riding, forming a sustainable lifestyle philosophy for green culture and tourism and healthy living.

Promote the conversion of ecological value

Recently, the Chongqing Branch of Industrial Bank issued a loan of 160 million yuan to the “Qishui Connecting Pearls” ecological clean small watershed integrated construction project in Qijiang District, Chongqing. This is the first special-purpose loan for the operation rights of ecological product value from the bank. The project innovatively established a scientific accounting system for ecological value, using ecological assets as the basis for financing valuation, solving a financing problem for a certain agro-cultural-tourism enterprise in Chongqing.

With support from this loan, the enterprise obtained the operation rights of ecological product value of water and soil conservation, and will focus on advancing the project’s ecological clean small watershed, quality improvement of featured industrial bases, and upgrading of culture-and-tourism supporting facilities. It enhances the stability of the watershed ecological system, while cultivating new business formats in featured agriculture and rural tourism, driving local employment and income growth, and forming a “ecological protection, value quantification, financing support, industry empowerment, and returns for beneficiaries” virtuous cycle.

To promote the conversion of ecological value, Industrial Bank has fully leveraged its professional strengths, providing innovative financial services for the green development of the culture and tourism industry, helping scenic spots turn ecological resources into economic benefits. In Sichuan, Industrial Bank uses the Specific Regional Ecological Value (VEP) of the Sichuan Xichang Qionghai Wetland Scenic Area, an AAAA-level national scenic area, as collateral to provide 100 million yuan in loan support, helping the scenic spot’s operation and construction.

In terms of promoting low-carbon operations of tourist attractions and improving the level of environmental governance, Industrial Bank has actively innovated with linked products. It links scenic spot water quality to loan interest rates, helping improve attractions’ environmental governance and lowering enterprises’ financing costs. At the same time, it promotes and replicates carbon emissions reduction-linked products, offering interest rate benefits to tourist attractions that meet low-carbon operation targets.

According to the person in charge of the Green Finance Department of Industrial Bank, the bank also actively carries out innovation in product services for the EOD (development oriented by ecological environment) model, increasing support for green finance, promoting effective integration between ecological environment governance projects and culture-and-tourism industries with better returns, and achieving a win-win outcome between ecological development and economic growth.

“Next, our bank will further strengthen its support for green finance for ecological culture and tourism, focusing on the linkage with industrial upgrading in areas such as mine ecological restoration, soil and water loss governance, grassland protection and restoration, wetland protection and restoration, and ecological tourism. It will actively support deep integration of agro-cultural-tourism, help achieve comprehensive rural revitalization, and serve better to expand domestic demand.” The person in charge said. (CIS)

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