China to launch national green development fund in 2020: official

BEIJING - China will officially launch its national green development fund in 2020, amid efforts to improve the economic policy system for ecological and environmental protection, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) Thursday.

Environmental economic policies can stimulate the endogenous power of enterprises for pollution control and are an effective way to solve environmental problems, MEE official Xu Bijiu told a press conference in Beijing.

In addition to the establishment of the fund, the country should give full play to the role of green finance and green credit, including environmental protection credit, Xu said.

Efforts should also be stepped up to increase financial investment in ecological and environmental protection and to improve related price mechanisms and tax policies, according to Xu.

"Policies on pollutant emission rights and ecological compensation will see further improvements to provide guarantee and support for the battle against pollution," said Xu.