China to encourage banks to join rural pollution fight

Reuters reports China will encourage banks to play a bigger role in providing the financing required to tackle mounting environmental problems in rural regions. The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) has admitted that the countryside has been a “weak link” in the country’s “war on pollution,” which has mainly focused on cutting hazardous smog in industrialized regions like Hebei. To help meet a vast funding gap, new guidelines have now been drawn up to encourage banks to provide more financial support for rural environmental treatment enterprises and encourage the use of public-private partnerships. China aims to treat or utilize 60% of livestock waste by the end of 2020. It would also aim to “effectively treat” more than 90% of rural household waste by the end of the decade.