The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area Green Finance Alliance (GBA-GFA) has marked its first anniversary by announcing new green and sustainable finance projects.
They include: the GBA Deep Decarbonisation Pathway and Transition Financing Opportunity, led by Hong Kong; the Carbon Neutrality Registration Database, led by Guangzhou; and the Green Bond Endorsed Projects Catalogue, led by Shenzhen.
“We are developing innovative green finance solutions to support different industries to decarbonise and making policy recommendations that will position Hong Kong as a leading international green finance hub for the GBA region,” said Tracy Wong Harris, vice president and deputy secretary general of the Hong Kong Green Finance Association (HKGFA).
“We have extended our Block-Chain Solar and Green Buildings efforts in 2021, with a new project, the GBA Deep Decarbonisation Pathway, and Transition Financing Opportunities research, which has identified additional areas with the greatest potential of using transition financing to help different industries leapfrog to a low carbon economy.”
Since last year, the HKGFA has led the GBA in the Green Buildings Opportunities project, aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 in the building sector.
A policy white paper on “Decarbonising the Building Sector in Hong Kong” was submitted to the local government in July.
Among the HKGFA’s four recommendations are the introduction of energy performance-based rating systems, the use of a performance-based rating system to access green finance, increased transparency of embodied carbon emissions and the creation of a cross-agency body under the government’s steering committee on climate change.
In the next research phase, the HKGFA will conduct in-depth studies on the building and transport sectors, and construct decarbonisation roadmaps, to accelerate the net-zero transition through green and sustainable financing opportunities in the GBA.
Setting up closer collaboration with the GBA is one of the Hong Kong government’s three specific focus areas fuel green and sustainable finance this year. The administration also announced earlier this year, that it has successfully offered $2.5bn of green bonds.
