Industrial Bank, the CHUEE program’s initial bank partner, officially launched its line of energy efficiency finance loans at a press conference on January 22, 2007 at its headquarters in Fuzhou, Fujian Province.
The energy efficiency finance loans are designed to support environmentally friendly and energy efficient projects and will meet local SMEs’ demand for energy efficiency investment. They are the first of their kind in the Chinese market.
The press conference was attended by local and national media and was chaired by Mr. Zhu Liyong, general manager of Industrial Bank’s Corporate Banking Department. Mr. Ian Crosby, operations manager of IFC’s Environment and Social Development Department, Mr. Calvin Xu, CHUEE program manager, and several general managers from Industrial Bank attended the event.
Mr. Chen Dekang, vice president of Industrial Bank, said the bank was proud to be using its financial products to support sustainable development.
The Deputy Director of Fujian Provincial Economic and Trade Commission said he was very impressed with Industrial Bank’s new loans and hoped they would set a strong example to the banking sector.
IFC PEP-China General Manager Mario Fischel also spoke at the event and explained how IFC is providing advisory services to energy efficiency finance programs around the world and has accumulated successful experience in this field. Under the CHUEE program IFC is providing a loss-sharing facility to Industrial Bank which is enabling it to enter the energy efficiency financing market.
At the end of the press conference two letters of intent between the Industrial Bank and two energy efficiency projects, the Lianshi Cement Plant Heat Recovery for Power Generation Project and the Fujian Environmental Engineering Company (FEEC) Limited Waste Incineration Treatment Plant, were signed.
