From Pathfinder to Leader: Xingye Bank's 20 Years of Green Finance Practice, Writing a New Chapter of Finance for Good

As the national “Dual Carbon” strategy is fully implemented and the economy and society accelerate their green transformation, green finance is not only a characteristic business of commercial banks but also a key support for promoting high-quality development and serving ecological civilization construction.

As one of the earliest commercial banks in China to explore green finance, Industrial Bank has been a pioneer in the green track since launching its energy-saving and emission-reduction loans in 2006. It has deeply cultivated the green field, integrating the concept of green development into its strategic planning, business layout, and management processes. Twenty years of persistent effort have seen the bank move from concept introduction to system building, from product innovation to scenario implementation, from serving domestically to aligning with international standards. Industrial Bank has charted a sustainable, socially perceptible, and industry-referable path of green financial development.

As it advances into the new “14th Five-Year Plan” journey, Industrial Bank is writing a new chapter in serving green development and empowering the construction of a beautiful China with more mature professional capabilities, a more comprehensive service ecosystem, and a more steadfast long-term approach.

Upholding the green original intention with long-term commitment, forging an industry benchmark

The development of green finance has never been a short-term market choice but a long-term strategic resolve and sense of responsibility. Long before green finance gained widespread consensus in China, Industrial Bank took a forward-looking perspective, leading the way in integrating green concepts into banking practices, becoming a trailblazer and pioneer in China’s green finance. In the face of market changes, industry cycles, and business structure adjustments, the bank has always maintained its green original intention, positioning green finance as a core part of its group development, creating first-mover advantages and professional barriers.

In top-level design, Industrial Bank has established a comprehensive, top-down green financial governance framework. From board decision-making and management execution to frontline implementation, responsibilities are layered and goals clarified, embedding green development requirements into credit policies, business processes, risk management, and performance evaluation. Over the past two decades, the bank has continuously elevated its strategic stance on green finance, optimizing organizational structure and talent systems: establishing a dedicated Sustainable Finance Center in 2009, upgraded to a head office-level department in 2012. In the 2022 reform, green finance was integrated with strategic client functions, with both head office and branches setting up green finance or strategic client departments, and building a professional talent system and green banking group.

Through ongoing resource allocation optimization, Industrial Bank has increased credit support and comprehensive financial services in green and low-carbon fields, guiding funds precisely toward key areas such as energy conservation, environmental protection, clean energy, ecological restoration, and carbon reduction technologies, promoting efficient matching of financial resources with green industries. Meanwhile, the bank has continuously improved its ESG risk management system, incorporating environmental, social, and governance factors into the entire risk management process, strengthening constraints on high-energy-consuming, high-emission, and low-efficiency projects, reducing environmental and social risks from the source, and achieving a synergy of business and social value.

With sustained deep cultivation and solid practice, Industrial Bank’s leading position in green finance has gained broad recognition domestically and internationally. In many authoritative ESG ratings, green finance evaluations, and social responsibility awards, the bank consistently ranks among the top domestic banks, maintaining industry-leading indicators. From a pioneer in China’s green finance to a AAA-rated ESG bank by MSCI, twenty years of practice have proven that green finance is not only an important path for fulfilling social responsibilities but also a vital engine for the bank’s transformation, core competitiveness enhancement, and high-quality development.

Building a comprehensive service ecosystem to empower实体转型 with professional capabilities

Over the years, leveraging its advantages in “commercial banking + investment banking,” Industrial Bank has broken traditional credit thinking, expanded the boundaries of green finance services, enriched its product matrix, and built a multi-field, multi-level, full-chain green financial service system. It provides precise, flexible, and efficient comprehensive financial solutions for different types, stages, and needs of market entities, establishing a diversified green financial service system covering traditional credit, bonds, leasing, trusts, funds, and more.

In traditional credit, the bank has continuously increased green loan issuance, focusing on key areas such as new energy, environmental protection equipment, industrial energy-saving upgrades, and urban-rural green infrastructure. It optimizes approval processes and improves service efficiency to provide stable, low-cost funding for green projects. In direct financing, the bank leverages its investment banking advantages to actively underwrite and issue green bonds, sustainability-linked bonds, and carbon-neutral bonds, helping high-quality enterprises expand green financing channels in capital markets. Its deep experience in green bond markets also promotes market standards, enhances market activity, and builds a diversified green financing ecosystem.

Carbon finance is at the forefront of green finance and a core tool for Industrial Bank to enable the real economy’s carbon reduction transformation. Centered on the national carbon market construction and enterprise carbon asset management needs, the bank has laid out a full-chain of professional products and services, transforming carbon elements into market-based tools to promote enterprise green transformation.

On one hand, it revitalizes corporate carbon assets by innovating products like carbon quota pledge loans and carbon asset pledge loans, solving funding bottlenecks for green transformation and enhancing the financial value of carbon assets. On the other hand, it launches specialized products such as carbon reduction-linked loans, carbon footprint loans, and green power certificate development loans, tying financing terms to carbon reduction results and guiding enterprises to optimize production processes and improve decarbonization capabilities.

Simultaneously, Industrial Bank deeply connects with the national carbon trading market, strengthening cooperation with China Carbon Market Exchange, completing system integration, and conducting fund settlement services. It provides carbon trading settlement, market analysis, and other supporting services, forming a full-chain of “carbon asset revitalization – carbon reduction incentives – carbon market services,” helping enterprises achieve carbon management goals with professional services.

The deepening of carbon finance requires higher standards for carbon data management, environmental benefit quantification, and risk control. The bank has built China’s first integrated dual-carbon management service platform, integrating digital transformation with green finance to support carbon finance development. The platform covers corporate carbon accounts, personal carbon accounts, and group operation carbon management, serving over 51,500 enterprises and 7.8094 million individuals, achieving digital and intelligent management of enterprise carbon data.

Based on the platform’s carbon account system, Industrial Bank can accurately measure enterprise carbon reduction effects, providing data for carbon-linked loans and pledge financing, enabling rapid project recognition, precise risk control, and continuous benefit tracking. The platform also conducts carbon emission accounting for dozens of industries, applying results to the design and implementation of transition financial products, advancing green finance from scale expansion to quality and efficiency improvement.

Rooted in industry frontlines, making green finance tangible and visible

The profound foundation of Industrial Bank’s green finance is reflected not only in professional capabilities and product innovation but also in practical projects that benefit people’s livelihoods and improve ecosystems.

From offshore renewable energy stations to inland ecological restoration projects; from large industrial energy-saving and decarbonization upgrades to rural green low-carbon construction, the bank’s financial services are always aligned with industry development and resonate with public needs. By the end of 2025, the bank’s green finance balance reached 2.46 trillion yuan, with green loans under PBOC standards totaling 1.10755 trillion yuan, ranking first among joint-stock banks.

In energy transition services, the bank deeply integrates into national energy security strategies, co-creating “carbon finance + green supply chain” with Trina Solar, injecting financial vitality into the clean energy industry chain, and helping build a modern energy system. By the end of 2025, green low-carbon energy loans totaled 169.841 billion yuan.

In promoting green upgrades of traditional industries, the bank has launched comprehensive transformation financial solutions for key sectors like steel and chemicals, forming strategic cooperation with multiple steel groups. By the end of 2025, the scale of transformation financial services exceeded 40 billion yuan, helping traditional enterprises achieve low-carbon transformation through energy-saving upgrades and CCUS technology, enhancing market competitiveness.

In ecological protection and green livelihoods, the bank directs financial resources toward visible ecological projects, supporting initiatives like Zhejiang’s “Five Water Co-Governance” and Dianchi Lake and Erhai Lake management. The green financing balance for pollution reduction projects reached 568.232 billion yuan, with ecological protection and restoration loans totaling 85.937 billion yuan; innovative green financial products like distributed photovoltaic loans and tea loans, along with green personal consumption and business financing, totaling 62.793 billion yuan, benefit thousands of households.

The ultimate value of green finance lies in achieving the unity of ecological, social, and economic benefits. Industrial Bank’s green loans support projects that save 17.2585 million tons of standard coal annually and reduce 26.7621 million tons of CO2 equivalent emissions each year. The non-performing rate remains below the average for corporate loans across the bank, realizing a win-win situation for economic and social environmental benefits, and exploring a replicable green finance development path.

Twenty years of perseverance and dedication. From pioneering to leading the industry, Industrial Bank upholds its green original intention with long-term commitment, empowering the real economy’s green transformation through professional innovation. Looking ahead to the “14th Five-Year Plan,” the bank will continue to deepen green finance, fully serve the “Dual Carbon” strategy and the construction of a beautiful China, continuously improve its green finance system, enhance professional capabilities, and consolidate its leadership advantage. Through practical actions, it aims to make green finance a powerful driver of comprehensive green transformation of the economy and society, setting a new benchmark for ESG-led green banking.