COP28: Hong Kong will host first forum at United Nations climate talks to promote city as green, sustainable finance hub

Hong Kong will host its first forum at the United Nations’ annual climate change summit next month, as a government advisory body and a local NGO promote the city as a global hub for green and sustainable finance.

Representatives from the Financial Services Development Council and Friends of the Earth, who will co-host the forum, on Friday said they would join a state delegation at the event in Dubai.

“Our objective is to inspire and promote sustainable finance globally through our participation,” said Daniel Fung Wah-kin, the council’s vice-chairman. “Together, we can create a greener future and highlight Hong Kong’s contributions to green finance for the well-being of all.”

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The conference, known as the COP28 summit, this year aims to assess progress on efforts to combat climate change. It will run from November 30 until December 12.

Before the opening of the summit, the United Nations will publish its first two-year assessment of global work to turn the tide on climate change. Known as the “global stocktake”, the review was first established in Glasgow, Scotland, at COP26 in 2021.

All co-signatory countries, including China, must detail their carbon reduction efforts in this year’s conference. Hong Kong is also covered by the Paris Agreement, an international climate change treaty, after China signed the deal in 2015.

The forum featuring the two Hong Kong organisations is scheduled for December 6 in a corner dedicated to the China delegation. Fung will speak about the city’s positioning as a “premier regional green finance hub”, with Friends of the Earth’s chairman Plato Yip Kwong-to discussing the use of blockchain technology to help develop green and sustainable finance.

Yip said Hong Kong’s regional strengths gave it “formidable edge in becoming a global epicentre for green finance”.

“Our shared vision is to leverage our unique location as the crossroads of the East and West to forge partnerships in the Middle East and North Africa region,” he said.

Serena Mak Chor-wan, the environmental group’s honorary secretary, said it hoped to explore how the city could help bring in funds for projects that had a positive impact on the climate.

In his latest policy address announced on Wednesday, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said he wanted to promote the development of green and sustainable finance.

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“We will launch a dedicated proof‑of‑concept subsidy scheme for green fintech in the first half of 2024,” he said in his policy blueprint.

Lee said the new scheme would provide “early‑stage funding support for pre‑commercialised green fintech” in a bid to expand the ecosystem and make the city a hub for such technology.

As of July, authorities had issued nearly US$22 billion worth of green government bonds to finance or refinance eligible projects that produce benefits for the environment and promote sustainable development.

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Hong Kong is the biggest market in China for listing offshore green bonds, accounting for 16 per cent of the country’s market share in 2022.

The Post has contacted the Environment and Ecology Bureau for comment on their potential conference participation.

Amos Tai Pui-kuen, the associate director of Chinese University’s institute of environment, energy and sustainability, said it was necessary for Hong Kong to learn from other COP28 participants about integrating climate science into green finance.

“This kind of international exchange has a strong role in promoting Hong Kong’s green finance and how to deal with climate change,” he noted.