Lending tool for carbon reduction debuts
The People's Bank of China, the nation's central bank, said on Monday it has rolled out a supporting tool for carbon reduction.
The bank will provide low-cost loans to financial institutions through the carbon reduction supporting tool, and will guide those
 institutions to provide loans to firms in key carbon-reduction fields on the premise of independent decision-making and risk-taking
The interest rates provided by financial institutions should be basically in line with the benchmark lending rates, or the loan prime
 rates, it said.
The PBOC will adopt a "system for direct funds," which means financial institutions could apply for low-cost funding from the 
central bank after loans for carbon reductions are made.
The PBOC will provide 60 percent of the loan principal made by financial institutions for carbon emission cuts, with a one-year 
lending rate of 1.75 percent.
The central bank also requires those financial institutions to publicly disclose information on carbon-reduction loans and the 
emission cuts financed by such loans.
>China's power supply back to normal
The State Grid Corporation of China on Sunday said the supply and demand of power in areas operated by the company have 
returned to normal. The thermal coal inventory in the company's operating area has rebounded to 99.32 million tons, while the 
available days of consumption have risen to 20, the company said. The scale of power curbs and the electricity gap have been
significantly reduced, it said, adding as of Saturday, the power supply to some factories with high energy consumption and high 
pollution in certain provinces was still limited. The grid will face an "overall tight balance of power with gaps in partial areas" this 
winter and coming spring as the country faces a power consumption peak and a drought season for hydroelectric power.
State Grid will increase and stabilize the power supply by tapping the potential of all kinds of resources while closely tracking
 thermal coal and gas supply and coordinating power transmission across different regions to ensure safety of the grid, said 
Meng Haijun, spokesperson with the State Grid. The company will strive to ensure power supply for households, public services
 and key customers, Meng said.
>Global COVID-19 cases hit 250M
Global COVID-19 cases surpassed 250 million on Monday.
Infections are still rising in 55 out of 240 countries, with Russia, Ukraine and Greece at or near record levels of reported cases
 since the pandemic started.
The daily average number of cases has fallen by 36 percent over the past three months, but the virus is still infecting 50 million
 people worldwide every 90 days due to the highly transmissible Delta variant.
More than half of all new infections reported worldwide were from countries in Europe, with a million new infections about every 
four days.
More than half the world's population has yet to receive a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, a figure that drops to less than 5
 percent in low-income countries.