Recently, the People's Bank of China, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission have publicly solicited opinions on the "Notice on Printing and Distributing the Green Bond Support Projects Catalog (2020 Edition) (Draft for Comments)".
The revision and improvement of the "Catalog" is related to the innovative breakthroughs and practical applications of green finance in terms of structural adjustment, transformation methods, ecological civilization construction, and sustainable economic development.
After careful discussion and research, the Biological and Scientific Ethics Committee (BASE) of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) has put forward six principle recommendations and 55 revision recommendations for the "Catalog", which have been formally submitted in the form of an official letter. Now organized as follows for readers to understand.
Principle Recommendations:
1. It’s recommended that in the chapter "Return the grain plots to forestry and grassland, return the grazing land to forestry and grassland", add the "Nature-based Solutions" (NbS) should be given priority over other solutions such as physics and chemistry.
2. Encouraging ecological protection and restoration should follow four principles: the principle of saving, the principle of natural, the principle of limited restoration, and the macro principle.
3. In order to ensure that the green bond-supported projects give full play to the institutional incentives and are futuristic, oriented and sustainable, it is recommended to actively encourage the resource utilization of invasive alien species.
4. It is recommended to treat the domestication and reproduction of wildlife with caution.
5. It is recommended that the construction, demolition and dredging projects should follow the biodiversity assessment and monitoring standards.
6. Actively encourage public participation and supervision by social organizations.
The People’s Bank of China, the Development and Reform Commission, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission divided into six areas: energy saving and environmental protection industry, clean production industry, clean energy industry, ecological environment industry, green infrastructure upgrade, and green service in the "Green Bond Support Projects Catalog (2020 Edition) (Draft for Comments)".
CBCGDF BASE proposed 55 amendments to the detailed rules of the projects supported in these six areas. Their outline is as follows:
1. Energy saving and environmental protection industry
1.3.2.1 Protection of good water bodies and environmental prevention and control of groundwater: through the overall use of engineering measures such as pollution interception and treatment, vegetation restoration, and the construction of biological buffers, pollution prevention and control engineering measures such as abandoned mines, drilling wells, and water intake wells are closed and backfilled, the development of river sources and Class III and above water quality rivers, lakes, reservoirs, drinking water source construction, construction of standby water sources, water conservation and ecological restoration construction projects, as well as groundwater pollution risk assessment and pollution in petrochemical, mining, farmland and other areas governance and groundwater protection activities.
It is recommended to add "on the premise of ensuring biodiversity", "to ensure that biodiversity surveys are conducted before the project starts, and long-term monitoring for 5-10 years after the project ends."
Reason: The content of ecological restoration work needs to be refined, and the responsibility for biodiversity protection should be clarified and implemented. The investigation and monitoring of biodiversity conservation should be clarified and implemented to ensure that ecological protection or restoration projects do not become "destructive projects". (Example: In March 2020, the "Shenzhen Bay Channel Dredging Project (Phase I)" was found to have crossed two restricted redline areas, but it's EIA report lacked benthic organisms, tidal flat wetlands, mangroves, oil pollution, noise, and light pollution to birds, etc. influence and other content. In June, the three involved units fined a total of 6.2 million yuan.
1.3.4.2 Desert pollution control: physical measures such as cleaning, leaching, vitrification, heat treatment and gas-phase suction, chemical measures such as incineration, electric remediation, chemical stabilization, and biological measures such as phytoremediation, animal remediation and desert pollution control activities adopt microbial remediation.
It is recommended to add “Nature-based Solutions (NbS) should take precedence over physical measures and chemical measures”.
Reason:
Example: In September 2019, the CBCGDF reported the Tengger Desert pollution case. The subsequent restoration measures did not consider Nature-based Solutions at all, wasting a lot of money. Therefore, Nature-based Solutions should be prioritized, which is of great significance for the efficient use of funds.
1.5.2.3 Construction and operation of product maintenance points (new): Encourage the construction and operation of urban maintenance points.
Reason: to ensure the primary maintenance of old items and encourage maintenance instead of discarding. Create jobs. Repairs should take precedence over recycling.
2. Clean production industry
2.1.2.1 Water pollution control in key industries: papermaking, coking, nitrogen fertilizer, non-ferrous metals, printing and dyeing, agricultural and sideline food processing, raw material medicine manufacturing, tanning, pesticides, antibiotics, electroplating and other water pollutants that produce clean technology in key industries, and the construction and operation of water pollution control facilities such as industrial sewage treatment facilities. For example, phosphate rock, phosphate chemical industry, phosphogypsum storage improvement, comprehensive utilization of phosphogypsum and product trade, construction and operation of wastewater production facilities in industries such as phosphorus-containing pesticides.
It is recommended to add "children's toys, hardware equipment for educational places" after “furniture” and add "and the formulation of relevant internationally recognized standards" at the end.
2.2.1.1 High-efficiency, low-toxicity and low-residue pesticide production and substitution: through measures such as pesticide production equipment, production process system transformation and upgrading, and environmentally friendly pesticide R&D and production, etc., production and use in agricultural production meet the validity period the "List of Main Varieties of Low-toxic and Low-residue Pesticides Used in Planting Industry (2016)" and other national and industry policies give priority to support activities of high-efficiency, low-toxicity and low-residue pesticides.
It is recommended to add "(including humans and pollinating insects)" after "low toxicity".
Reason: It is recommended to specify "low toxicity", not only for humans, but also for pollinating insects. Ensure friendliness to pollinating insects. At present, many high-efficiency and low-toxicity products are actually only emphasized for humans, but they do not consider low toxicity to pollinating insects such as bees. (Example: In 2018, a large number of bees in Tongbai Mountain of Henan Province were poisoned by pesticides, and the economic loss was as high as 10 million yuan; in 2020, more than 1,100 boxes of bees in western China were exposed to plants that had just been sprayed with pesticides and died in large numbers.)
3 Clean Energy Industry
3.2.1.1 Wind power equipment manufacturing: onshore and offshore wind turbines; 3MW and above offshore, onshore prototype, low temperature, low wind speed wind turbine generators, wind turbine blades, bearings, cables, gearboxes, manufacturing and trading activities of key components such as towers and related systems and equipment of wind farms.
It is recommended to add "on the premise of ensuring that the impact on migratory birds is minimized".
Reason: Wind power must also ensure biodiversity conservation. There are tens of millions of birds that die every year due to wind power equipment, and it is urgent to incorporate this consideration into the design stage.
3.2.2.3 Construction and operation of biomass energy utilization facilities: biomass materials such as agricultural and forestry wastes, municipal solid wastes, etc. are used for power generation and heating, the production of biomass liquid fuels such as fuel ethanol, and the production of biomass using waste oil and other food waste construction and operation of facilities for diesel and other products.
Original Chinese article:
http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/13423.html
By / Maggie