An aerial photo taken on Aug. 3, 2023 shows a wind farm in Dabancheng, also known as "China's Wind Valley," in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's financial sector will promote the steady growth of green finance in support of green and low-carbon development, as the world's second-largest economy presses ahead with building a beautiful China, a central bank official said at a conference on Wednesday.

Zhu Hexin, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), China's central bank, said that while doing this, the financial sector must focus on the effectiveness of green finance in generating environmental benefits and promoting industrial transformation and upgrading.

During a green finance services promotion conference jointly convened by the PBOC and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on Wednesday, Zhu said financial and relevant administrative departments should accelerate the formulation of a unified green finance support catalog and statistical system, so as to identify the major directions of green finance support.

Financial institutions should strengthen the analysis and research of key green industries and enrich their green financial products, Zhu said.

"At present, there is still a huge demand for funds to comprehensively promote green and low-carbon transition and build a beautiful China," vice minister of ecology and environment Zhao Yingmin said at the conference.

Zhao said it is necessary to enrich green financial products and services, support climate-related investment and financing pilot projects, and explore financial support models for regional environmental protection projects.

According to Peng Lifeng, director of the central bank's Credit Market Department, the PBOC and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment have established a cooperative mechanism through which they will jointly promote financial services for building a beautiful China.

During Wednesday's event, six enterprises signed green finance contracts with banks, involving a total value of more than 13 billion yuan (about 1.8 billion U.S. dollars). Projects under the signed contracts include sewage treatment, wind and solar power generation, as well as rural revitalization, among others.

"Building a Beautiful China" is among the priorities of China's efforts to deepen reform comprehensively. According to the resolution adopted at the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in July 2024, the country will ramp up the green transition in all areas of economic and social development and improve the environmental governance system.

In October 2024, the PBOC and three other government departments announced 19 key measures to promote green finance and serve the building of a beautiful China.

As of the end of the third quarter of 2024, China's outstanding balance of green loans exceeded 35 trillion yuan, and the stock of green bonds issued stood at nearly 2 trillion yuan, ranking among the top in the world.