A large Chinese bank, Industrial Bank, will reward customers using digital yuan with carbon points as it looks to further implement CBDC.
According to CICC Online , the bank announced that verified digital yuan wallet users can now earn “personal carbon account points” by using the app to make CBDC purchases.
Digital yuan and green finance are free of charge
Customers will accumulate carbon points by making e-CNY retail payments through the app. They can also earn points by using digital yuan tokens to make “financial purchases and credit card payments.” Last year, several Chinese banks launched personal carbon point platforms in an effort to boost green financing and reduce emissions.
The program is part of the country’s commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Local authorities are using the program to reward commuters for using public transportation instead of a car.
Citizens can also earn points by joining tree planting and recycling campaigns. They can then redeem those points for prepaid travel cards and shopping vouchers. The bank said it plans to expand its green finance and digital yuan activities, and added that it has already mapped out new opportunities.
A spokesman for the Digital Yuan Department at Industrial Bank said:
“Digital Yuan wallets and carbon accounts promote the innovative development of digital and green finance in China. The integration [of green finance with the digital yuan] will have a synergistic effect. It will help build a green economy and a new ecosystem of digital yuan.”
In Fuzhou, the bank says it first used CBDC to power Fujian Province. Industrial Bank took part in a digital yuan-funded purchase of carbon sinks for marine fisheries. Meanwhile, in Suzhou, the bank said it had made green finance-related loans in digital yuan amounting to about $967 million.
