China launches $4.8b Silk Road ecology fund

The vehicle, Green Ecological Silk Road Investment Fund, has received RMB30 billion ($4.8 billion) from eight Chinese enterprises, including Elion Resources, China Oceanwide, Chint Group, Huiyuan Juice, Macrolink, JuneYao, Ping An Bank and Sino-Singapore firm Tianjin Eco-City.

It will back projects focused on ecological solar panel construction, clean energy and remediation in China and other countries in the Silk Road Economic Belt. This has been established along the ancient Silk Road trade route, stretching northwest from China through Central Asia, the Middle East and on to Europe. There is also a 21st century Maritime Silk Road covering Asia, Europe and Africa.

For its first project, the fund will invest RMB5 billion to build solar plants in Beijing and Zhangjiakou, Hebei province.

Guochen Liu, the investment manager, claimed that the fund will create over RMB100 billion in value and RMB100 billion in gross environmental production (GEP). Meanwhile, it could provide 200,000 new jobs in the next 6-8 years, according to a post on a China government website.

"Utilizing the PPP [public-private partnership] model, we are willing to promote green investment along the Belt," said Wenbiao Wang, chairman of Elion Resource. "It's estimated that over $5 trillion will be injected into the energy sector by China in the next 10 years."

In November, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the "belt and road initiative" and creation of the $40 billion Silk Road Fund to make investments in infrastructure, energy and resources, as well as the industrial and financial sectors.

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