CHUEE program held its first Program Advisory Committee Meeting in Beijing on May 28, 2007. Senior officials from the National People’s Congress and various ministries have been invited as the PAC members, who attended the meeting and provided practical advice to the CHUEE program. Mr. Mario Fischel, the General Manager of IFC PEP-China chaired the meeting.
Mr. Calvin Xu, IFC CHUEE Program Manager and the Senior Operations Officer, reported to the meeting on CHUEE’s progress and achievements in the past six months. The initial partner bank of CHUEE has provided totally 130 million RMB loans to 9 energy efficiency projects across China, leading to 2 million tons of CO2 emission reduction. In addition, the Industrial Bank has an EE project pipeline reaching 3.7 billion RMB in investment value. In CHUEE’s future plan, Mr. Xu pointed out that Bank of Beijing would become the second CHUEE partner bank in June. By the end of this year, CHUEE II would probably have been launched to support up to 4 billion RMB EE financing. CHUEE would conduct EE mapping for different industries, such as building material sector and district heating sector, to quantify the energy saving potential in China so that IFC, together with its partner banks, could provide tailored EE financing products to SMEs in these industries to meet their financing needs.
Mr. Russel Sturm, the Principal Project Officer from IFC Environment and Social Development Department, shared with the meeting IFC’s experience in EE financing programs in other developing countries as well as its proven practices in delivering EE financing programs with other financial institutions to realize significant social, economic and environmental benefits. Representatives from Industrial Bank and Xinao Gas, two major partners of CHUEE, attended the meeting as Program Advisory Committee members, and reported their achievements, concerns and challenges. Mr. Markku Kavonius, Senior Adviser of Ministry of Employment and the Economy of Finland, addressed the meeting as a representative of CHUEE donors. He introduced to Chinese government officials the commercialization efforts of the Finnish government in the sustainable development of EE sector and put forward his valuable suggestions and requirements for CHUEE’s next step.
Government officials congratulated to the achievements that CHUEE team has made in such a short time. They appreciated the efforts of IFC in creating CHUEE to finance Chinese SMEs’ EE projects. Mr. Wu Jinkang of International Department of Ministry of Finance recognized CHUEE as an innovative financing model, which could be “used as reference” for other energy saving programs in China. Mr. Dai Yande, Deputy Director-General of Energy Research Institute of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) attributed the innovation of CHUEE to Ministry of Finance and IFC. He believed that “this Program has surpassed other GEF programs in China and is showing very good momentum”. Mr. Wen Wurui, Deputy Director of Department of Foreign Cooperation of State Environment Protection Administration (SEPA), admitted the demonstration value of CHUEE program to the current and future energy saving and emission reduction causes in China and the world, saying “ we are very supportive of it”. According to Mr. Wen, SEPA not only supports this program, but also seeks support and cooperation from IFC. Mr. Sun Youhai, Director of Legislative Department of Environment & Resource Conservation Committee of National People's Congress, suggested CHUEE team to “carefully study Chinese laws and regulations to ensure the compliance of CHUEE program with these important legislations and provide guidance to CHUEE’s support”. Mr. Ye Yanfei, Director of Research Department of China Banking Regulatory Commission, suggested that IFC convene a high level forum or seminar to introduce incentive measures and policies adopted by developed nations to Chinese decision makers. Mr. Zhang Jianmin, Director of Energy Conservation Information Dissemination Center of NDRC, proposed to share energy saving technology information and expert resources with CHUEE. Mr. Wang Xiaoguang, Director of Economic Research Department of Economic Research Institute of NDRC, put forward comments at macro level and suggested CHUEE to consider “launching some comprehensive projects integrating the entire industrial chain and resources recycling”.
The Program Advisory Committee (PAC) was established to involve policy-makers from relevant government departments to advise for CHUEE program and set up a dialogue platform between the government and other players in the energy efficiency industry. The PAC functions as a think-tank forum for the advancement of energy efficiency finance and market development in China. The PAC also plays an advocacy role to support program implementation by addressing critical energy efficiency business related policy and strategy issues at the levels of government policy and commercial market. The PAC convenes on an annual basis, and a senior official from the Ministry of Finance acts as the Chairman.
Senior officials from the National People’s Congress and various ministries of the Chinese government have been invited as the PAC members, including those from Ministry of Finance (MOF), National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), State Environment Protection Administration (SEPA) and State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).
The main role of the PAC members is to provide advice and feedback on the program design and implementation. Beyond the annual PAC event, the CHUEE management and implementation team may contact the Committee members to seek advice on issues raised during day to day program operations.
Representatives from CHUEE donor organizations and two key CHUEE partners were invited to present at the PAC, who were involved in the fruitful discussion on future development of energy efficiency finance with Chinese government officials.
The PAC meeting was followed by an open workshop involving energy efficiency market players in China, including end users, utilities, energy management companies, energy efficiency equipment suppliers, and industrial associations.
