Twelve heavy polluting enterprises have had crucial bank loans
recalled, suspended or rejected as China's new "green-credit
policy" kicks into action, Friday's China Youth Daily
reports.
The report fell short of naming the companies but outlined
several cases of which one involved a brewery in east China's Anhui Province whose application for a
10-million-yuan bank loan was rejected due to continued violations
in waste-water discharge.
In another case, a power company in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan
Province, had its bank loans recalled after it failed to pass an
environmental assessment.
The 12 companies were among the 30 the State Environmental
Protection Administration (SEPA) reported to the People's Bank of
China and the China Banking Regulatory Commission in July this
year.
"The purpose of this move is to force enterprises to pay the
price for environmental violations," the newspaper quoted an SEPA
official as saying.
China's enterprises are only subject to a maximum 100,000 yuan
(about US$13,500) fine for environmental violations, according to
Chinese law.
"Compared with the economic benefits of illegally discharging
pollutants, this kind of financial punishment is just a drop in the
bucket for these enterprises," the official said.
In July, SEPA, the central bank and the banking regulators
jointly issued a "green-credit policy", which required SEPA to hand
over lists of heavy polluters to the central bank and the
regulatory commission.
The companies on the list that fail to pass environmental
assessments or to implement China's environmental protection
regulations are disqualified from receiving loans from any bank or
financial institution.
Companies that already have loans, but are later discovered to
have violated environmental protection regulations, will have their
loans recalled, according to the policy.
The SEPA has said it would join with the Ministry of Finance,
the China Insurance Regulatory Commission and the China Securities
Regulatory Commission to devise other economic policies to promote
environmental protection.
(Xinhua News Agency November 16, 2007)
