The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) says it will invest 500 million U.S. dollars to support a Chinese green project, its first sovereign-backed financing in China.
D Jagatheesa Pandian, AIIB’s Vice President/Chief Investment Officer made this known in a statement.
According to Jagatheesa, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Low Carbon Energy Transition and Air Quality Improvement Project aims to increase the availability of natural gas to help reduce coal consumption and related emissions in the region surrounding China’s capital.
He said that the project involved the construction of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in Tianjin’s Binhai District, covering LNG receiving, storage, and re-gasification facilities as well as an unloading wharf.
He added that once completed, the project would be expected to reduce coal consumption by 11.9 million tonnes per year and help improve air quality by cutting coal combustion-related emissions in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
“The project will support China’s efforts to fulfill its commitments under the Paris Agreement, as well as strengthen and contribute to the global response to the threat of climate change,” the AIIB vice president said.
He added that with the project in place, AIIB could augment its institutional capacity and expertise in LNG infrastructure for similar projects proposed by other members.
AIIB, launched in Beijing in Oct. 2014, is a multilateral development bank that aims to support the building of infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region.
