MNI BRIEF: China Needs Insurance Funds to Hit Carbon Goals: Ma

China should push insurance companies to use their policy premiums to fund green technologies and help hit the goal of carbon neutrality by 2060, advisors and officials said at the 2021 Annual Meeting on Financing Green Technologies. Eco-friendly tech projects need long-term capital commitment, dovetailing nicely with life insurance policies that often span 30 years or more, Ma Jun, a former member of the People's Bank of China monetary policy committee, told the forum over the weekend.

Governments should also play an active role in helping to secure long-term funding, said Ma, who now heads the Institue of Finance and Sustainability. Ma's view was shared by Wang Yida, a senior official of the National Green Development Fund, supported by the Ministry of Finance. Regulators should expand the scale of approving long-term funds for green development, and insurance capital is crucial, Wang said.

The government should use policies to guide investment into emission reduction, including greater support of carbon reduction and subsidies, and increasing the costs of emissions to encourage greater reduction efforts, said Ma.