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Green and Sustainable Finance

Topic Introduction

Green and sustainable finance is a new but rapidly expanding area of financial activities. Capitalising on the enormous green finance opportunities presented by the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and the Belt and Road Initiative, we will continue to provide the necessary infrastructure and catalyst for promoting market development and encouraging more entities to make use of Hong Kong’s capital markets as well as financial and professional services for green and sustainable investment, financing and certification, echoing the goal of achieving carbon neutrality before 2050 as announced in the Chief Executive’s 2020 Policy Address.

Our Ongoing Work

Government Green Bonds – The Government Green Bond Programme (GGBP) was launched in 2018 with an initial borrowing ceiling of HK$100 billion. As announced in the 2021-22 Budget, the Government will issue green bonds regularly and expand the scale of the GGBP.  At present, the borrowing ceiling of the GGBP has been doubled to HK$200 billion. As at June 2023, a total of around US$19 billion equivalent of green bonds, targeting global institutional investors and covering US dollar, Euro and Renminbi tranches in multiple tenors, have been successfully issued under the GGBP and were well received by the global investment community, affirming investors’ confidence in Hong Kong’s credit strengths and economic fundamentals in the long term.  In addition, we issued the inaugural retail green bond of HK$20 billion in May 2022 and the world’s first tokenised government green bond of HK$800 million in February 2023, further promoting the development of green and sustainable finance in Hong Kong.

Funding schemes – To support green and sustainable bond issuance and lending to further enrich the green and sustainable finance ecosystem in Hong Kong, the Government launched the three-year Green and Sustainable Finance Grant Scheme in May 2021 to provide subsidy for eligible bond issuers and loan borrowers to cover their expenses on bond issuance and external review services. In December 2022, the Government launched the three-year Pilot Green and Sustainable Finance Capacity Building Support Scheme to provide subsidies to local eligible practitioners and prospective practitioners participating in training related to green and sustainable finance in response to the new trend of developing low carbon and sustainable economy.

Cross-agency collaboration – The Green and Sustainable Finance Cross-Agency Steering Group was established in May 2020 and a strategic plan was promulgated in December 2020, setting out six key focus areas and five near-term action points for strengthening Hong Kong’s financial ecosystem to support a greener and more sustainable future. We will join hands with the financial sector and relevant stakeholders to take forward the strategic plan and continue to mobilise capital towards sustainable projects in the region.

For More Information

For more information, please visit the following websites/linked documents:

Government Green Bond Programme
https://www.hkgb.gov.hk/en/greenbond/greenbondintroduction.html

Green and Sustainable Banking, HKMA
https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-functions/banking/banking-regulatory-and-supervisory-regime/green-and-sustainable-banking/

Green and sustainable finance, SFC
https://www.sfc.hk/en/Green-and-sustainable-finance

Green and Sustainable Finance Grant Scheme, HKMA
https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-functions/international-financial-centre/bond-market-development/tax-concessions-and-incentive-schemes/

Pilot Green and Sustainable Finance Capacity Building Support Scheme
https://www.greentalent.org.hk/

Core Climate, HKEX
https://www.hkex.com.hk/Join-Our-Market/Sustainable-Finance/Core-Climate?sc_lang=en

Sustainable & Green Exchange, HKEX
https://www.hkex.com.hk/Join-Our-Market/Sustainable-Finance/HKEX-STAGE?sc_lang=en