From September 19 to 20, 2026, Professor Zhang Xiaoyan led a research team to Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, to conduct a specialized field study on green finance support for the industrialization of ecological restoration and low-carbon transition. The study aimed to examine practical pathways for integrating ecological conservation with industrial development, and to explore how green finance can better bolster ecological restoration and low-carbon transition, enabling ecological value to continuously translate into economic value, social value, and new growth momentum.
Photo: The research team at Ant Forest Plot No. 411 in Qingshuihe County, Hohhot.
On September 19, the team visited Ant Forest Plot No. 411 in Qingshuihe County to examine the ecological restoration of sea buckthorn forests and the development of related industries. The locality adopts a four-party cooperation model: "Ant Forest provides funding for adoption, the local government coordinates and organizes implementation, farmers participate in planting and管护 (maintenance), and enterprises guarantee floor-price purchase and deep processing." By directly linking ecological restoration with rural income growth, this model not only enables farmers to achieve significant income gains through planting and harvesting sea buckthorn, but also maximizes the ecological benefits of windbreak and sand stabilization. The team subsequently visited a sea buckthorn processing facility operated by Yuhangren to learn about deep-processing operations and the industrial mechanisms transforming ecological assets into economic returns.
Photo: The team conducts field research at Ant Forest Plot No. 411.
On the morning of September 20, the team visited M-Grass Ecology and Environment (Group) Co., Ltd. The visit focused on understanding the company’s strategic layout in windbreak and sand control, degraded grassland restoration, grass seed R&D, and its Wencao AI agent. The team also exchanged in-depth views on core business sectors, including grass seed breeding, ecological restoration engineering, and modern grassland-based animal husbandry. M-Grass’s exploration of an integrated "science & technology + ecology + industry" development model offers practical benchmarks for shifting ecological restoration from single-project investments to sustainable, long-term operations.
Photo: The team visits an M-Grass ecological production base.
Photo: The team learns about M-Grass's digital platform.
Photo: The research team at M-Grass Ecology and Environment (Group) Co., Ltd.
From frontline afforestation sites fighting desertification to intelligent workshops for deep processing, and innovative practices in seed breeding and ecological engineering, this field visit yielded valuable frontline case studies for research in green and inclusive finance. Taking this study as a springboard, the team at the Research Center for Wealth Management of the PBC School of Finance, Tsinghua University, will synthesize practical insights from the field to provide rigorous research support for China's green finance in driving ecological restoration and low-carbon transition.
