Tracking the implementation of green credit policy in China: Top-down perspective and bottom-up reform

The Chinese government has introduced the green credit policy to mitigate the environmental impact of industrialization by reining in credit loans to companies and projects with poor environmental performance. This research investigated the implementation of the green credit policy both at the national and provincial levels. Our results show that the green credit policy is not fully implemented. The wide-ranging impact on high-polluting and high energy-consuming industries, vague policy details unclear implementing standards, and lack of environmental information are the main problems in the implementation of the green credit policy in China. On the other hand, the practice at local level (Jiangsu Province) is more practical by integrating green credit policy with the environmental performance rating system. Finally, suggestions are outlined to improve China's green credit policy. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.