China seeks to launch green industry fund with World Bank

China is seeking to launch a green industry fund with the World Bank, part of which is expected to support the Belt and Road Initiative, a provincial economic regulation official told China Daily on Tuesday.

"The fund is expected to support projects helping to protect the environment, among which some are expected to support the Belt and Road Initiative in particular to meet the gap for green infrastructural construction," said a senior official with Development and Reform Commission in Zhejiang province, who declined to be named due to lack of authorization to speak on the matter.

The fund is expected to be launched first in a pilot province, because China needs to accumulate experience while at its early stage in green finance development, according to the official.

The establishment of funds "remains to be at very initial phase," according to the World Bank.

Although China has had a late start compared to other developed countries in green finance, China has achieved progress since making green development a priority, according to Ma Jun, chief economist with the research bureau under the People's Bank of China.

China became the world's largest green bond market in 2016, with a total of 238 billion yuan ($36.2 billion) worth of green bonds issued in 2016, receiving around 39 percent of global insurance in 2016, according to a report released earlier this month by the Climate Bonds Initiative and China Central Depository and Clearing Company.