中国金融业环境管理体系的发展
常淼，彭莉娟，王世文
摘
要：通过引入环保概念及实施规范，财政部门可以有效地促进金融业在环境管理体系方面的建立，该部门的可持续发展体系对本文从三个方面进行了分析：环境风险评价；财政对环保的支持和金融服务；环保企业和个人。从各种实体的角度来讲，如金融机构，金融监管当局，环保部门，企业，市民。该部门对中国金融业的环境管理体系发展的影响因素进行了讨论。并指出中国金融行业目前正处在过渡阶段，从防守态度到预防性的态度。对于中国金融业的环境监管应该努力发展环境管理系统，并且加强政府指导、监督以及公众的环境保护意识。 关键词：金融业、环境管理、环境风险评价、环境保护工程、环境友好行为
1引 言
由于融资机构和金融机构可以影响公司的业务活动，所以它们秉着对环境负责的态度，运用财政政策和指导方针，有利于环境保护和资源节约。随着越来越多的环保污染事故的发生，法律，法规和环保标准也已经得到了加强。因此，企业成本从预防到恢复环境已经大大增加。由于环境质量下降，企业投资的兴趣减少，所有这些因素提高了环境相关金融机构的风险。
在20世纪90年代，发达国家的金融机构开始关注环境问题，并采取措施，以避免相关的损失。然而，直到现在，中国金融机构才实施了几个与环境有关的政策。在最新的国际金融机构和实践的现状上，本文定义了中国金融机构在建立环境管理体系中的角色,中国的金融系统完成了环境保护的目标设定在第11个五年计划(2006 - 2010)。
2金融业环境管理体系的必要性
有以下几种环境问题所引起的不利影响,包括: （1）由于巨额的污染罚款，致使企业为预防环境污染所支付的费用提高,这些费用以至于它们进入清算阶段；
（2）绿色贸易壁垒减少出口，从而成为企业获利的障碍; （3）企业产生负面影响的活动，导致物业贬值，如土壤污染; （4）费用原材料或预处理单元扩大，以抵消因为污染的原材料或资源质量下降; （5）大规模的环境灾难造成社会和经济损失。
所有上述问题增加不良贷款、超额支付的保费和金融部门的环境风险,这极大地影响利润水平。
金融公司已经采取以下措施来规避环境风险： （1）在传统的信贷服务中将环境因素加以考虑; （2）开发特殊的金融产品,支持污染控制工程、环保产业和环保企业。发展环保管理系统，可以帮助金融机构加强日常运营的安全和促进金融服务的竞争力。
3在环保领域的金融服务功能
已经有一些国际金融惯例，旨在保护环境。根据金融服务如何促进环境保护，有利于环保的金融服务功能，可以分为三个领域。
3.1环境风险评估和控制
随着国家环保政策和法规的日趋完善以及与国际贸易之间的接轨，对出口限制的环境风险主要来自金融机构。环境风险引起的其他风险，如信用风险或投资风险。这些通常是当产品达不到国家环保标准或国际贸易的要求时，客户支付对环境的污染控制所带来的风险。环境风险评估，可以帮助机构规避金融风险。许多外资银行已经采取了“赤道原则”，以管理项目融资中的环境风险。一些银行根据赤道原则建立了环境风险管理准则，如环境风险的贷款政策，汇丰银行；环境和社会风险管理系统，花旗银行。现在中国的金融机构必须考虑环境的影响，例如，明确国有商业银行监管该项目的债务人必须提交环境风险评估报告，经环保部门批准方可进行贷款。然而，机构没有充分认识到环境风险。他们评估这些风险，只考虑项目合法，但很少考虑可能发生在整个项目中的环境风险规避。此外，环境风险评估只适用于项目融资。中国保险业尚未建立环境责任保险，这可能为环境风险所带来的机会。中国的金融机构还没有建立完整的环境管理、相关的业务指导和专业的风险评估体系。虽然中国人民银行最近已建立银行信贷系统的环境信息，但这个系统将在很长一段时间才能被用于金融服务。
3.2环保项目的财政来源
环保项目，是指可以改善环境质量的项目，例如，工业污染控制，环境基础设施建设和生态保护。这些项目通常由政府参与，以非营利性为目的，需要长期大量的资金支持。因此，支持环保项目的大多数金融机构是国家政策性银行，国际金融组织和银行集团，其中包括许多商业银行和保险公司。他们通常提供给环保项目长期低利率的贷款和担保。
中国国家开发银行（CDB）是相关政策的银行，与主要国家基础设施建设作为支持重点之一。2001年以来国家开发银行已加大对城市基础设施的贷款，然而，支持环保建设作为城市基础设施的类型在贷款金额方面很不稳定。由于国家开发银行和其他商业银行在贷款利率和应用程序方面对用于环保项目未做区别。它不清楚所支持这些项目的比例和方式，因此，它不能作为当前环保项目稳定和强大的资金来源。
在中国的环保项目也接受国际金融组织贷款和技术援助。自1981年以来，世界银行（WB）已投资2.7245亿美元，向中国提供的贷款占总额的6.47％，这些资金都用于中国的环保建设。自1995年以来亚洲开发银行提供贷款和技术援助金额高达82％。与其他金融机构相比，国际金融组织对中国环境保护的财政支持是相当大的。然而，它不是唯一的和稳定的资金来源，因为大多数国际金融机构在符合其战略和项目的的发展上，有选择的投资。
3.3具体的环保企业和个人的金融服务
环保行为是指活动期间由企业或个人的活动业务对环境的影响考虑。环保行为尝试着阻止环境破坏，并保护环境和生态系统。金融机构通过以下几种方法支持企业的环保行为。
（1）为环保公司提供了尽可能多的资金。例如，三菱东京银行与日本政府合作开发环境信用制度，根据环保信贷准则为每一个公司评估其环保表现，企业超过一个特定的水平，可以申请低利率贷款。
（2）建立环保投资基金，专门支持环保方法和环保公司，如汇丰可持续发展领袖基金。
（3）开发新的金融产品，专门用于资助环保项目，如可再生能源，废物回收，有机农业。
与国际惯例相比，中国金融机构在支持企业和个人的环保行为上没有实质性的措施。环境基金是最常用的方法，以支持环保的企业和个人。然而，这些资金大多是非政府组织（NGO）。由于很少参与金融机构和缺乏市场机制，该基金运作不是很好。公司在环保、污染预防和控制的信用评级机构没有排名的影响。传统的信贷服务还没有专门用于环保行为的有利做法。
4对中国金融机构的促进因素，制定环境管理体系
中国金融机构环境管理体系的建立是由各种实体影响的，它涉及金融监管，环保部门，企业和公众。中国拥有雄厚的资金控制。它的金融监管结构，由一个中央银行和三个监管机构组成。这些机构通过财政政策和法规引导金融机构，建立环境管理体系。中国人民银行（PBC），是中国的中央银行，负责设定存款和贷款利率，并实行其他金融政策的影响，因此它可以融入对环保产业政策倾斜的金融政策。对于社会信用体系的发展，中国人民银行可以采取另一种方法，以促进环境保护。在社会信用体系的大前提下，企业的环保信息可通过披露/报告信息在污染物排放以及奖励环境保护。它也可以指导机构，建立环境管理体系。三大金融监管机构，即中国银行业监督管理委员会，中国证券监督管理委员会，中国保险监督管理委员会，监督和规范金融市场行为，以确保有利于环境保护的财政政策的实施。它们可以监测环境管理体系，并确保金融机构符合政策和法规的行为。金融机构客户现在专注于中国在“入世”后的竞争会更加激烈。企业和金融机构客户可以鼓励金融机构建立了环境管理体系。企业有两个主要方面影响金融机构发挥，企业的环境问题迫使金融机构采取措施，以减少对环境的风险。连续的环境污染事故造成公司重大经济损失和破坏自己的形象，使公司无法偿还金融机构债务。金融机构的行为可能进一步激发环保部门的环境监管。当环保标准上升时，越来越多的法规使企业对环境保护措施与还款的费用提高，造成重大的损失。企业环保行为正越来越多地为金融机构创造机会。机构可以提供新的金融服务，以满足这些企业日益增加的需求，提高金融服务与提供商之间的竞争力。环保行为对大股东管理企业，以及对投资者的投资价值意见有很大的影响。国际金融组织通过先进的管理经验可以推动中国金融机构在环境管理体系上的发展，特别是对环境风险。
5结论和建议
金融服务和环保相互促进彼此的理论和一些切实可行的政策方向。金融机构可以扩大对客户服务的影响，并迫使他们通过其金融服务，做些环境有益的行为。相反，环境的改善为金融机构提供机会，减少风险，促进金融工具的创新，扩大服务规模。然而，仍有许多工作实现通过金融服务的完善环境保护的目标， 有几个建议，以提高中国金融机构在环保领域中的作用。 （1）政府应引导商业银行信贷与相关政策相结合
从国家宏观经济发展和产业升级的角度来讲，中国政府应制定一系列连续的中期和长期的产业政策，适合当前的环境形势，并引导商业银行为中国经济的发展，给予企业相应的信贷和贷款。政府应采取切实可行的措施，如贴息、政策鼓励、延长贷款期限、减少甚至撤回对那些被限制或禁止开发的贷款。
中国政府也应建立环境信息，当他们申请贷款时，以帮助商业银行知道这些企业的数据揭露。在银行业，政府应加强环境信息的数量和种类方面的社会信用体系。对公司、企业环境报告和环境审计应鼓励或法律强制实施。 （2）各金融机构应加强环境管理体系
尤其是高层的金融机构应该认识到建立环境管理体系的重要性。应制定金融产品创新，以发现更多在金融服务上的机会，避免由环境问题引起的金融风险。金融机构应确定风险的服务水平，并制定出相应的实施规则。环保培训计划，如环境政策，技术先进和环境影响评估，也应被设置为运营商学习的基本知识。 （3）研究适合中国金融业与国际经验相结合的环境管理体系。
中国政府应组织金融机构，环保部门，监管部门之间的相关研究，关于金融服务和环境保护之间的关系。应该制定一个可行的计划，以建立与我国目前的污染状况，经济特点，国家产业政策和国际先进做法相适应的金融业环境管理体系。
Development of environmental
management system in China’s financial sector
Miao CHANG, Lijuan PENG, Shiwen WANG
Abstract The establishment of the environmental management system in the financial sector can be effectively promoted through the introduction of the environmental protection concept and its implementation by the financial sector.The impact of a sustainable development system on the sector is analyzed in this article from three aspects: environmental risk aement, financing support for environmental protection projects, and financial services to environmentally friendly corporations and individuals.Influential factors on the development of the environmental management system in China’s financial sector are discued from the perspective of various entities such as financial institutions, financial regulation authorities, environmental protection departments, corporations, and the public.It is pointed out that China’s financial sector is now in the transitional phase from a defensive attitude to a preventive attitude.Strengthening governmental guidance, the supervision of regulators as well as public awarene of environmental protection should be used to enhance the initiative in the development of the environmental management system in the Chinese financial sector.Keywords financial sector, environmental management, environmental risk aement, environmental protection project, environmentally friendly behavior 1 Introduction
As the financing agency, financial institutions can influence the busine activities of corporations.They behave in an environmentally responsible manner through financial policies and guidelines beneficial to environmental protection and resources conservation.As more and more environmental pollution accidents occur, laws, regulations, and standards for environmental protection have been strengthened.Therefore, the corporate cost from environmental prevention and restoration has increased.Interest in corporate investment decreases due to decreasing environmental quality.All these factors raise environmentally related risks of financial institutions.In the 1990s, financial institutions in developed countries started to pay attention to environmental problems and adopt measures to avoid relevant loes.However, Chinese financial institutions have implemented few environmentally related policies until now.This paper defines the role of Chinese financial institutions on the establishment of the environmental management system based on the latest practice of international financial institutions and the current situation of China’s financial system to accomplish the targets of environmental protection set forth in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006–2010).2 Neceity of the environmental management system in financial sector
There are several negative effects caused by environmental problems, including: (1) Corporations pay for the measures against environmental pollution, and they even go into liquidation because of enormous expenses for pollution-related reparations; (2) Barriers of green trade decrease exports and thus corporate profit; (3) Negative effects by corporate activities, such as pollution to the soil, result in the depreciation of properties; (4) Expenses on raw materials or pretreatment units expand to offset the decrease of the quality of raw material or resources because of pollution; (5) Large-scale environmental calamities cause social and economic loes.All of the problems above increase non-performing loans, overpayment of premiums, and environmental risks of the financial sector, which greatly influences profit levels .Measures which financial companies have adopted to evade environmental risks are as follows: (1) Taking environmental factors into consideration in traditional credit services; (2) Developing special financial products to support pollution control projects, environmental protection industries, and environmentally friendly corporations.The development of the environmental management system can help financial institutions enhance the safety of daily operations and promote competitivene of financial services.3 Function of financial services in the environmental protection field
There have been several international financial practices aimed at environmental protection 2,3.Based on how financial services promote environmental protection, the financial service function beneficial for environmental protection can be divided into three fields.3.1 Environmental risk aement and control As the national environmental policy and regulation are becoming more complete and tightened and international trade is making more limitations on environmental influences on exports, major environmental risks for financial institutions occur consequently.Environmental risks generate other risks such as credit risks or investment risks.These usually happen when clients pay for measures on environmental pollution control, or when products cannot meet national environmental standards or international trade requirements.Environmental risk aement can help institutions avoid financial risks.Many foreign banks have already adopted the Equator Principles to manage environmental risks in project financing.Some banks established the environmental risk management guidelines based on the Equator Principles, such as the Environmental Risk Lending Policy by HSBC bank and Environmental and Social Risk management system by Citibank.Financial institutions of China now consider environmental influences on services, for example, state-owned commercial banks explicitly state in regulation for loan applications that project debtors have to submit the environmental risk aement report approved by the environmental protection department.However, institutions are not fully aware of environmental risks.They ae these risks only to keep projects legal, but with little consideration of the evasion of environmental risks probably occurring acro the project.In addition, environmental risk aement is only applied in project financing.The insurance industry of China has not yet established environmental liability insurance, which is regarded as an opportunity brought by the environmental risk.Financial institutions of China have not established a complete environmental management system with relevant operational instructions and profeional risk aeors.Although the People’s Bank of China has added environmental information into the bank credit system lately, it will take a long time for this system to be used by financial services.3.2 Fiscal sources for environmental protection projects Environmental protection projects refer to projects which can improve environmental quality, for example, industrial pollution control, environmental infrastructure construction, and ecological conservation.These projects are usually characterized by the participation of government for a non-profit purpose and require a large amount of funding with long-term repayment.Therefore, most financial institutions which support environmental protection projects are state policy-related banks, international financial organizations and banking syndicates which consists of many commercial banks and insurance companies.They usually provide environmental protection projects long-term and low-interest rate loans and guarantees.China Development Bank (CDB) is policy-related bank with major national infrastructure construction as one of its support emphases.CDB has been increasing loans on urban infrastructure since fiscal year (FY) 2001.However, support on environmental protection infrastructure as one type of urban infrastructure is not very stable in terms of the amount of the loan.CDB also does not distinguish itself from other commercial banks in terms of the loan rate and application procedure specifically for environmental protection projects.CDB remains unclear on the proportion of and the way that it supports such projects.Thus, it cannot act as a stable and strong funding source for current environmental protection projects.Environmental protection projects in China also accept loans and technical aistance from international financial organizations.The World Bank (WB) has invested US $2.7245 billion in environmental protection programs of China, which takes up 6.47% of the total amount of loans supplied by WB to China since 1981.The number of loans and technical aistance programs provided by the Asian Development Bank adds up to 82 since 1995.Financial support for Chinese environmental protection by international financial organizations is considerably large compared to other financial institutions.However, it cannot be a consistent and stable financial source since most international financial organizations choose projects selectively in line with their development strategy and the project location.3.3 Specific financial services to environmentally friendly corporations and individuals Environmentally friendly behaviors (Table 1) refer to activities which take environmental influences into consideration during busine activities by corporations or activities by individuals.Environmentally friendly behaviors try to prevent environmental problems and sustain the environmental and the ecological system.There are several ways that financial institutions could support corporate environmentally friendly behaviors.(1) Providing favorable funding as much as poible to environmentally friendly corporations.For example, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi has collaborated with the Japanese government to develop an environmental credit system in which every corporation is evaluated for its environmental performance according to the environmental credit criterion.Corporations which surpa a specific level can apply for a low-interest loan.(2) Establishing the environmental investment fund to specially support environmental methods and the development of environmentally friendly corporations, such as the ‘‘HSBC GIF Sustainability Leaders Fund’’.(3) Developing new financial products to specifically fund for environmental protection projects such as renewable energy, waste reclamation, and organic agriculture.
Compared to international practices, Chinese financial institutions have little substantial measures in supporting environmentally friendly behaviors of corporations and individuals.The environmental fund is the most common approach to support environmentally friendly corporations and individuals.However, such funds are mostly operated by non-governmental organization (NGO).The operation of the fund is insufficient with little participation of financial institutions and a lack of market mechanism.There are no credit rating agencies to rank the efforts of corporations in environmental protection or in pollution prevention and control.Traditional credit services have not adopted favorable practices specifically for environmentally friendly behaviors.4 Promotive factors for financial institutions of China to develop the environmental management system The establishment of the environmental management system in financial institutions of China is influenced by various entities (Fig.1), involving financial regulators, environmental protection departments, corporations, and the public.
China has strong financial control.The structure of China’s financial regulation consists of one central bank and three regulatory organizations.These authorities could direct financial institutions to set up the environmental management system through financial policy and regulations.The People’s Bank of China (PBC), the central bank of China, is responsible for setting the interest rate of deposit and loan, and for instituting other financial policies which affect financial support for other industries.Thus, it can integrate industry policy into financial policies inclined towards environmental protection.Development of a social credit system is another approach that the PBC can adopt to promote environmental protection.It can subsume information of corporations’ environmental performance under the social credit system, including disclosing/reporting information on pollutant discharge and awards for environmental protection.It can also instruct institutions to establish the environmental management system.The three financial regulatory organizations, namely China Banking Regulatory Commiion, China Security Regulatory Commiion, and China Insurance Regulatory Commiion, supervise and regulate financial market behaviors to aure the implementation of financial policies which are beneficial to environmental protection.They can monitor environmental management systems and ensure that financial institutions behave in line with policies and regulations.Financial institutions now concentrate more on client needs due to fiercer competition in the sector after China’ WTO acceion.Corporations, as the clients of the financial institutions, can encourage financial institutions to establish the environmental management system.There are two major influences which corporations can exert on financial institutions 6.One is that the environmental problems of corporations are forcing financial institutions to take measures to reduce environmental risks.Continuous environmental pollution accidents cause corporations significant economical loes and destroy their image, which make corporations unable to repay debt to financial institutions.Action by financial institutions action can be further motivated by severe environmental regulation of environmental departments.When environmental protection standards rise and more regulations are constituted, corporate expenses on environmental protection measures and repayment for loes from accidents expand.Environmentally friendly behaviors by corporations are increasingly creating opportunities for financial institutions.Institutions can provide new financial services to meet these increasing needs of corporations to enhance competitivene among financial services providers.Environmentally friendly behaviors are greatly affected by the major stockholder’s opinions on the management of corporations as well as by the investment value of investors.International financial organizations can push Chinese financial institutions to develop the environmental management system through their advanced management experiences especially on environmental risks.5 Conclusions and recommendations
Financial services and environmental protection are mutually promoted by each other with the direction of theories and certain practical policies.The financial institutions can expand the effects of their services on clients and compel their environmental-beneficial behaviors through their strategies of financial services.Otherwise, the improvement on environmental protection provides financial institutions opportunities on the reduction of risks, innovation of financial tools, and expansion of service scale.However, much work remains for financial institutions of China to realize the objective of bettering environmental protection through the financial services.There are several suggestions to enhance the role of Chinese financial institutions in the field of environmental protection.(1) The government should direct the credit of commercial banks with a combination of relevant policies The Chinese government should institute a series of consecutive mid and long term industrial policies, which are suited for Chinese economic development and for the current environmental situation from the perspective of national macroeconomic development and industrial upgrade, to guide commercial banks on credit and loans given to companies.The government should take practical measures such as a subsidized interest or prolonging the loan period towards industries which are encouraged by the policy, and decrease or even withdraw the loan towards those which are limited or prohibited to develop.The Chinese government should also establish the disclosure system of environmental information to help commercial banks know such data of companies when they apply for a loan.Within the banking sector, the government should strengthen the social credit system in terms of the quantity and variety of environmental information.Towards the companies, the corporate environmental report and implementation of the environmental audit should be encouraged or forced by law.(2) The financial institutions should enhance the environmental management system Financial institutions, especially the high quarters, should realize the importance of establishing the environmental management system.Innovation of financial products should be developed to discover more opportunities in financial services and avoid financial risks induced by environmental problems.Financial institutions should identify the risk level of services and work out the corresponding rules for implementation.Environmental training programs should also be set up for operators to learn basic knowledge such as environmental policies, advanced technologies, and environmental impact aement.(3) Study the environmental management system suited for China’s financial sector with a combination of international experiences.The Chinese government should organize relevant researches among institutes, financial institutions, environmental protection departments, and regulatory authorities to study the relationship between financial services and environmental protection.It should develop a feasible plan to establish the environmental management system in the Chinese financial sector, which should correspond with the country’s current pollution situation, economic characteristics, national industrial policy, and international advanced practices.
