6.6 trillion yuan earmarked for low-carbon cities: report

Workers with the power supply company in Chuzhou, Anhui province, check the transmission network under the State Grid before it is connected with a local wind power farm. [Song Weixing/For China Daily]

BEIJING - China is set to invest 6.6 trillion yuan (about $1 trillion) on developing low-carbon cities in the next five years, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The money will be mainly spent on developing low-carbon buildings, green transportation system and clean energy to meet China's low-carbon ambitions outlined in the 13th Five-Year Plan, according to a report jointly released by the Paulson Institute, Energy Foundation China and a branch of the China Association of Circular Economy.

The majority of the investment, about 4.45 trillion yuan, will go to build or upgrade energy-efficient and environmentally friendly railways, buses and other infrastructure, the report said.

About 1.65 trillion yuan is needed to finance construction of green buildings or reconstruction of existing residential and commercial properties so that they conserve more energy.

Developing distributed solar photovoltaic power generation infrastructure, considered to be vitally important to clean energy, will require investment of about 500 billion yuan before 2020, according to the report.

Ma Jun, the Chinese central bank's chief economist, said the sums of money needed for this work are too great to be covered by the government alone. China needs to turn to specialist financing like issuing green bonds to introduce more private support, Ma said.