(Yicai Global) Nov. 12 -- China will need as much as CNY487 trillion (USD75 trillion) worth of green and low-carbon investment over the next 30 years in order to meet its carbon neutral goals, according to a new report.

Large-scale investment in green and low-carbon industries will boost the economy in the medium to long-term and the jobs created are likely to be significantly more than those lost in high-carbon industries, according to a report by the Green Finance Committee of the China Society for Finance and Banking.

More research funding for green technologies will also promote technological progress. And the transition to new energy will help reduce the country’s fuel imports, the report said.

Other surveys put the figure at around CNY100 trillion. “Our methodology is different from other researchers as we looked at over 200 green industries, from the low-carbon energy system to environmental protection agencies, based on the National Development and Reform Commission’s green catalogue,” said Committee Director Ma Jun.

The carbon market's pricing mechanism must be effective, Ma said. Apart from the spot market, derivatives are also necessary to form a complete price curve, guiding medium - and long-term investments by enabling market participants to see the projected carbon price level in the next five to 10 years.

Incentives are also important, he said. Designing a wide range of products is needed to help lower the financing costs of green projects. And good standards and disclosure are prerequisites for developing green finance, otherwise, a lot of fake projects will take up the resources from real ones, Ma said.

However, there are risks to financial institutions as the transformation of high-carbon industries to low carbon is a difficult process. So, these institutions should master environmental and climate risk analysis methods, improve risk disclosure and develop more climate risk management tools, he added.

Editors: Xu Wei, Kim Taylor