Hong Kong ESG Overview
Hong Kong’s ESG regulatory policies are mainly formulated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong, and many polices are based on the Hong Kong Climate Action Plan 2050.
As an international financial center, Hong Kong launches a series of green financial instruments and releases the Green and Sustainable Finance Grant Scheme to provide subsidies to the market. The Hong Kong government also issues green bonds to institutional investors and individual investors to increase public participation.
Hong Kong is regulating ESG development, such as setting climate information disclosure standards based on ISSB guidelines and requiring mandatory disclosure by listed companies. Hong Kong also establishes a green taxonomy to provide a standard framework for sustainable activities.
Future of Hong Kong ESG
Hong Kong plans to become the world’s first jurisdiction to incorporate international sustainable information disclosure standards. The Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants has released a draft of sustainable financial reporting standards, and will launch mandatory climate disclosure by 2025 to provide standardized information for stakeholders.
As an international financial center, Hong Kong has rich experience in ESG financial products and has successfully issued tokenized green bonds, supporting the development of green fintech enterprises.
In terms of ESG education, Hong Kong has launched Green Week to promote participants’ understanding in ESG activities. Hong Kong also offers a pilot program for green and sustainable finance training, providing tuition subsidies for ESG courses and exams.
HKEX Releases Carbon Market Report
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange releases a carbon market report, which analyzes the current development of the global and Chinese carbon markets in detail, and proposes the opportunity for Hong Kong to participate in the process
Introduction to HK’s Green and Sustainable Finance Grant Scheme
Hong Kong launched the “Green and Sustainable Finance Grant Scheme (GSF)” to provide funds for issuers of green bonds and borrowers of green loans to promote the development of green and sustainable finance. This plan is integrated from the
Introduction to HK’s Climate Action Plan 2050
In 2017, Hong Kong released the “2030 Climate Action Blueprint”, promising to reduce carbon emissions to 65% to 75% of 2005 by 2030. In 2020, carbon emissions have been reduced to 80%.
Hong Kong’s carbon emissions have reached a peak in 2014. According to
Introduction to Hong Kong Green Bond Program
In 2018, Hong Kong launched the government green bond program for the first time, with an initial borrowing ceiling of HK $100 billion (about $12.8 billion). This borrowing limit was increased to HK $200 billion ($25.6 billion) in 2021. The funds raised by green bonds are mainly
Hong Kong FSDC Releases ESG Brief Report
Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council (FSDC) recently released a brief report on ESG, summarizing the development of ESG in Hong Kong and proposing a roadmap for follow-up actions. The report is divided into three parts, namely, the introduction of the
How to Query ESG Funds Classified by Hong Kong SFC
Hong Kong SFC classifies public funds on its official website, including environmental, social and governance funds. This category of funds incorporates ESG factors into their main investment priorities and reflects ESG factors in their
HKEX Releases Annual ESG Review of 400 Listed Companies
The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the Exchange), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), released the annual esg review results of ESG of listed companies in 2022