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Out of the window? Green monetary policy in China: window guidance and the promotion of sustainable lending and investment

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  • Dikau, Simon
  • Volz, Ulrich

Abstract

Chinese monetary and financial authorities have been among the pioneers in promoting green finance. This paper investigates the use of one specific monetary policy tool, namely window guidance, by the People’s Bank of China (PBC) and the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) to encourage financial institutions to expand credit to sustainable activities and curb lending to heavy-polluting industries. We investigate window guidance targets for the period 2001-2020 and find that ‘green window guidance’ was used by the CBRC from at least 2006 and by the PBC from 2007 to discourage lending to carbon-intensive and polluting industries and/or to increase support to sustainable activities. Both authorities stopped discouraging lending to carbon-intensive/polluting industries in 2014. Sustainable objectives were subsequently also removed from the PBC’s list of priority sectors at the start of 2019, ending the practice of green window guidance in China. Sustainability-enhancing window guidance targets were replaced and formalised through new ‘Guidelines for Establishing the Green Financial System’, reflecting efforts to move away from controls-based towards market-based policy instruments. Based on this analysis, the paper draws four lessons for the design of green finance policies for other countries that seek to enhance sustainable finance and mitigate climate change and related risks.

Suggested Citation

  • Dikau, Simon & Volz, Ulrich, 2021. "Out of the window? Green monetary policy in China: window guidance and the promotion of sustainable lending and investment," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 111489, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:111489
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    Cited by:

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    2. Su, Zhifang & Guo, Qianqian & Lee, Hsiang-Tai, 2022. "Green finance policy and enterprise energy consumption intensity: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    sustainable finance; central banking and financial supervision; China; Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy; ES/P005241/1; ES/R009708/1; 71661137002;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development
    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General

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