山西落地全省首笔“生物质能循环利用”生物多样性贷款Shanxi implements the province's first 'biomass energy recycling' biodiversity loan

Recently, the Shanxi Low-Carbon Environmental Protection Group's Fushan Biomass Low-Carbon Clean Energy Island Project secured the province's first "biomass energy recycling" biodiversity loan. This loan was successfully facilitated by the Linfen Branch of the People’s Bank of China and the Linfen Branch of the Agricultural Development Bank. The loan amount is 29 million yuan, with a term of 5 years and an annual interest rate of 3%, which is 0.5 percentage points lower than the LPR for terms over 5 years.

It is reported that this loan is specifically used to support the construction of the Fushan Biomass Low-Carbon Clean Energy Island Project and represents an innovative practice of financial empowerment for the protection of agroforestry ecosystems, aiding in the development of biodiversity-friendly energy.

Fushan County has rich agricultural and forestry resources, but for a long time, agricultural and forestry waste such as corn stalks and fruit tree branches has faced issues of random piling and open-air burning. In response to this challenge, with strong support from Fushan County, Shanxi Low-Carbon Environmental Protection Group initiated investment and construction of the Biomass Low-Carbon Clean Energy Island Project.

This project is Shanxi Province's first low-carbon demonstration project for biomass gasification utilization and a key provincial-level support project for the rural energy revolution. The total investment is 36.9462 million yuan. In the first phase, a new 35-ton/hour biomass gasification production line will be constructed, and the technology used has been selected for the "National Advanced Technology Catalogue for Cleaner Production (2022)."

The loan term is 5 years with an annual interest rate of 3%, which is 0.5 percentage points lower than the LPR rate for terms above 5 years. This reflects the policy guidance of directing financial resources toward green low-carbon and biodiversity protection areas, and it also broadens financing channels for similar projects on the resource utilization of agricultural and forestry waste.

This loan precisely supports the construction of the first phase of the project. Once completed, the project will produce 180,000 tons of industrial steam annually, generate 2,000 tons of by-product biochar, and consume 54,500 tons of agricultural and forestry waste per year, establishing an ecological recycling chain of "collection—production—utilization—returning to the field."

Next, Shanxi Low-Carbon Environmental Protection Group will manage and utilize this biodiversity loan effectively, continuously improve the ecological recycling industry chain for agricultural and forestry waste, leverage Shanxi's resource advantages, and build a replicable and promotable biomass low-carbon demonstration model.

[Source: Shanxi Low Carbon Environmental Protection Group]

[Editor: Xiao Neng]