Ping An Launches Upgrade of Green Finance Activities to Support China's Goal of Carbon Neutrality

HONG KONG and SHANGHAI, April 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (hereafter "Ping An" or the "Group", HKEX: 2318; SSE: 601318) is pleased to announce that on the occasion of the 52^nd annual Earth Day, it has issued "A Letter from Ping An to the Earth", announcing a comprehensive upgrade of green finance activities and setting quantitative green finance performance targets. Through its financial product and service innovations, Ping An will support China's goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, help combat global climate change, and promote sustainable social development.

Setting green finance performance targets

In the letter, Ping An proposes a series of performance targets for green finance, leveraging the Group's strengths in finance, including green insurance, green investment and green credit. It also commits to adopting measures to support green growth and sustainable development. Ping An is committed to becoming the world's leading green finance group, helping China achieve its CO₂ emission peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality targets by 2060.

Ping An stated that it will fully support the government's approach to transform to a green economy by offering financial incentives for green projects, such as preferential credit interest rates and insurance rates, asset allocation tilting and training, mentoring and other value-added services. It will support innovations in clean technology, renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy technology, carbon capture and ecological carbon sinks, carbon trading and other environmental fields.

Ping An set targets for the annual growth rates for its green investments of no less than 20%, green insurance premiums no less than 70% and green credit balance no less than 20%. By 2025, Ping An aims to achieve the overall targets with investment and credit of RMB400 billion and total green insurance premiums of RMB250 billion. It will actively promote green investment and climate change risk management, provide insurance premiums and offer green channels or preferential interest rate policies on loans to green projects and green companies.