From Reuters: Local governments in China are resisting Beijing’s attempt to hold back bank credit from big polluting businesses.
“Some provinces and financial institutions have not implemented the green credit policy at all,” said Pan Yue, deputy head of the environment agency, in a statement on its Web site www.sepa.gov.cn.
High polluting and energy-intensive sectors are still profitable and protected by local governments, which take a short-term view of the economy, Pan said.
Pan’s agency and the People’s Bank of China launched a program in July 2007, in which the central bank would instruct lenders to reduce or even stop lending to firms included on a list of polluters compiled by SEPA.
