A special press conference on green finance in Hunan Province was held in Chenzhou on December 17. The press conference introduced the achievements of green finance reform and innovation in the province, among which Chenzhou City's practice and achievements in exploring green finance to support ecological value transformation and industrial green transformation received widespread attention.

As of the end of the third quarter of 2025, the balance of green loans in the province exceeded 1.3 trillion yuan, an increase of 21.1% compared to that in the beginning of the year  the beginning of the year and 3.6 percentage points higher than the national average level.

The balance of green loans in Chenzhou City reached 74.985 billion yuan, an increase of 19.1% compared to that in the beginning of the year and 10.2 percentage points higher than the growth rate of various loans in the city.

Green finance is becoming a strong driving force to promote the high-quality development of Chenzhou.

Chenzhou City has incorporated green finance into the overall deployment of high-quality development strategy, established a leadership group, issued a series of policy documents, and established a cross departmental coordination mechanism.

The People's Bank of China Chenzhou Branch joined hands with multiple departments to compile the “Chenzhou Green Enterprise (Project) Library”. It has established a normalized platform for the cooperation among governments, banks and enterprises, accurately guiding financial resources towards the green sector.

Regarding the financing difficulties in the transformation of small sized hydropower stations, Chenzhou has first issued the “Operation Guidelines for Water Rights Pledge Loan” in the province.

As of the end of October, the balance of pledge loans for water rights in the city was 158 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of over 16 times, with a total investment of 173 million yuan, supporting the intelligent transformation of 30 small hydropower stations.

At the same time, Chenzhou city has pioneered financial standards for the transformation of the casting and forging industry nationwide. It carried out a pilot program in Jiahe County to encourage enterprises to establish carbon accounts, and innovatively launched new loan products, with loan interest rates linked to the carbon emission reduction performance of enterprises.

The Agricultural Bank of China Chenzhou Branch has lowered the minimum interest rate for related products by 89 basis points from the LPR, and has granted credit of 300 million yuan to 72 enterprises. ​

It has also provided support for ecological governance and cultural tourism projects through models such as “pollutant discharge rights pledge” and “scenic spot operation rights pledge”, providing loans totaling 2.59 billion yuan for 16 scenic spot projects.

The credit support for ecological agriculture with geographical indications such as “Dongjiang Fish” and “Yongxing Bingtang Orange” has continued to increase, and the balance of green loans for ecological agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery has reached 4.52 billion yuan, an increase of 48.9% compared with that in the beginning of the year.

In addition, the balance of forest tenure mortgage loans was 2.51 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19.3%, effectively activating forest resources.

Chinese source: czxww