Zijin Copper Co., Ltd. recently signed a contract with Zijin Mining Group Finance Co., Ltd. to get a 5-million-RMB loan. This loan was secured on the mortgage of part of Zijin Copper’s carbon-emission quota, and the contract was signed under the witness of a branch of The People’s Bank of China.

This was said to be Fujian Province’s first loan this year issued by financial institutions on the mortgage of carbon emissions quota.  

Zijin Copper currently has a permit to emit 324257 tons of carbon, and the specific amount of signed loan had been agreed upon by both sides calculating Zijin Copper’s most up-to-date value of carbon assets. 

“We obviously have a market value for carbon assets, and companies should definitely treat their carbon assets to be part of their overall intangible assets,” said a staff with the Zijin Mining Group Finance Co., Ltd. Companies can mortgage their existing or future carbon assets to the financial institutions and in return receive loans with low interest rates; alternatively, companies having less emission can cash out on selling the right to emit carbon to others. 

This carbon emissions trading mechanism is set to motivate companies to improve technologies and ultimately reduce emissions and save energy. 

Since its establishment in 2009, Zijin Copper has been taking every effort to adopt advanced technology to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. Especially in recent years, Zijin Copper has been unwaveringly following Zijin Group’s concept of “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets”, by consistently innovating its technologies and optimizing the production process, and it has made significant progress in reducing carbon emissions.