China needs to cut lending to coal-related industries and shift more financing to cleaner businesses in order to address a huge funding gap that is hindering the country’s war on pollution, a study drawn up in part by central bank researchers said. Some 2.9 trillion yuan ($468 billion) a year was required over the next five years to boost clean energy and tackle pollution, said the study published on Thursday by the Financial Research Institute of the People’s Bank of China and Greenovation Hub, a non-governmental organization. The researchers found that bank loans to the coal sector rose sharply from 2012 and more than doubled in 2013, a period when growth in Chinese energy demand remained high and coal firms were rapidly expanding. After reviewing loans made to 168 Shanghai-listed companies, the report found that 5.5 trillion yuan went to borrowers specializing in coal mining, coal-fired […]