The balance of China's green loans in local and foreign currencies stood at 13.92 trillion yuan ($2.15 trillion) at the end of June, up 26.5 percent year on year, the country's central bank data showed.

By the end of 2020, the total of China's outstanding green loans was the highest in the world, People's Bank of China (PBOC) data showed.

The growth rate in June was 1.9 percentage points higher than that at the end of March and 14.6 percentage points higher than that for all kinds of loans at the end of June, the PBOC said in a Saturday report.

Of the total, 67.3 percent of the green loans went to projects related to carbon emission reduction.

China has pledged to peak carbon emissions before 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060. The country is employing multiple tools to incentivize de-carbonization. Apart from issuing green loans, its much-awaited nationwide carbon trading market started trading in July.

Green finance was set as a priority for China's central bank this year. The bank earlier estimated that China will need to invest 2.2 trillion yuan in carbon emission reduction every year before 2030 and an annual 3.9 trillion yuan worth of investment from 2030 to 2060.

(With input from Xinhua)