Agricultural Bank of China Chairman Gu Shu: Make Green Development the Foundation Color of Rural Revitalization, Continuously Increase Efforts in Green Finance Innovation

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Reprinted from: Xinhua Finance

Xinhua Finance Beijing, March 22 — (Reporter Liu Yulong) On March 22, the China Development High-Level Forum 2026 Annual Conference was held in Beijing. During a seminar on global green low-carbon transformation and sustainable development, Gu Shu, Chairman of the Agricultural Bank of China, stated that the bank always regards green development as the foundation of rural revitalization, considers innovation as a key means to gather green development momentum, and views cooperation and coordination as an effective path to promote green development. Gu Shu said that the trend toward green and low-carbon development is irreversible, and recommended strengthening coordination of green standards, increasing innovation in green finance, and promoting cross-border flow of green capital.

Gu Shu introduced that the Agricultural Bank of China always regards green development as the foundation of rural revitalization. The bank adheres to the core concept that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets,” embedding ecological protection and resource conservation into the entire rural development chain to avoid pollution first and treatment later, achieving sustainable rural revitalization.

“Our service network covers all over 2,800 county-level administrative regions in China, making us the only bank with full coverage of county-level institutions,” Gu Shu said. These county-level outlets across the country provide a solid channel foundation for the in-depth promotion of green finance. By the end of 2025, the bank’s green loans in counties reached 2.5 trillion yuan, accounting for over 40% of all green loans, covering key areas such as food security, rural industries, and rural construction.

Gu Shu said that the Agricultural Bank of China always regards innovation as a key means to gather green development momentum. The bank insists on innovation-driven development, continuously strengthening its green service innovations, improving the group’s collaborative innovation system, optimizing policy mechanisms and business processes, and continuously enhancing the professionalism of green financial services. For example, the recently launched open-source AI agent OpenClaw has sparked a tech industry craze. The bank quickly released its version, “Lobster (ABC-Claw),” to help relationship managers automatically process green project data, cross-verify multi-dimensional information, and generate due diligence reports intelligently, making loan processing more convenient, efficient, and secure. Additionally, to address the difficulty in quantifying environmental benefits of green projects, the bank actively applies fintech to innovate credit enhancement methods for forestry and marine carbon sinks, helping enterprises activate “dormant” green assets and solve financing difficulties. For companies needing transformation, the bank explores ESG evaluations, linking evaluation results with loan factors to incentivize proactive corporate transformation through market-based means.

Gu Shu said that the Agricultural Bank of China always regards cooperation and coordination as an effective path to promote green development. Green development involves many aspects and requires cross-sector collaboration to form synergy. In recent years, the bank has actively strengthened cooperation with governments, financial peers, and all sectors of society, deepening green development partnerships. For example, in Qinghai, the bank established government-bank cooperation and enterprise-bank docking mechanisms, providing funding through loans to farmers and herders, project loans, and more, supporting ecological migration in Sanjiangyuan National Park, wildlife migration corridors, and ecological animal husbandry, effectively promoting the protection and restoration of the “Chinese Water Tower” ecosystem in Sanjiangyuan.

“Green development is a common pursuit of all humanity and a shared responsibility we must shoulder,” Gu Shu said. Currently, global climate governance faces some challenges, but the trend toward green and low-carbon development is irreversible. He suggested making full use of international platforms like the China Development High-Level Forum to strengthen policy dialogue and experience sharing, build consensus, and enhance mutual trust, promoting higher-quality green development through more pragmatic cooperation.

First, strengthen coordination of green standards. Gu Shu recommended further leveraging the leading role of international organizations to promote dialogue and coordination among the international community on green project identification, environmental benefit measurement, and information disclosure requirements, improving the comparability and compatibility of green standards across countries, and laying a solid foundation for global green market connectivity.

Second, increase innovation in green finance. Gu Shu suggested that global financial institutions focus on the needs of green transformation, further enhance financial innovation and digital empowerment. Specifically, fully utilize AI and other technologies to improve green project identification, carbon footprint accounting, and risk management capabilities, continuously expand service channels and boundaries, and improve service quality and efficiency to better meet the financing needs of global green transformation.

Third, promote cross-border flow of green capital. Gu Shu recommended strengthening the connection of green investment and financing platforms, improving risk prevention and information sharing mechanisms, and increasing the convenience and safety of cross-border green capital flows. Particularly, through joint financing, knowledge sharing, and capacity building, support the green transformation of developing countries.

Editor: Xing Lisha

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