Steering Group reports advances in greening Hong Kong’s finance sector

Hong Kong’s Green and Sustainable Finance Cross-Agency Steering Group has released an update on the progress of its mission to advance the city’s leading position in green and sustainable finance (GSF) and assist the financial industry’s transition towards carbon neutrality.

The Centre for Green and Sustainable Finance (GSF Centre) recently launched the GSF Training Information Repository, which facilitates access to information about international and local GSF training and qualifications. It also launched the GSF Internship Opportunities Repository, which serves as an information platform for university students who are looking for opportunities to gain GSF-related work experience and applied knowledge to prepare for a future career in this field.

GSF Centre is also working with the Hong Kong government on the preparation work for the new Pilot Green and Sustainable Finance Capacity Building Support Scheme, which was announced by the Financial Secretary in the 2022/23 Budget. It aims to launch the scheme in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The centre also created a GSF Data Source Repository that supports the financial sector in locating data sources for climate risk management and other GSF-related analysis and research. The repository contains various government data sources that can help physical risks in Hong Kong, including historical data on natural catastrophe damages, district-level micro-climate conditions, and other geographic data. The centre is also working on a free and publicly accessible greenhouse gas emissions estimation tool, with clearly disclosed methodologies, that companies can use as an alternative source of information.

The Steering Group said it will engage with experts to put up for consultation the structure and core elements of the local green classification framework.

According to the group, a key focus of financial regulators globally is to facilitate capital allocation for transitioning to a low carbon economy. The International Sustainability Standards Board aims to come out with the first set of international sustainability standards in late 2022 or early 2023. The Steering Group encourages market participants to respond to the ISSB public consultation on its proposed standards, which runs until July 29.