The Green Buildings webinar, titled “Accessing a $18 Trillion Investment Opportunity in Asia Pacific” was successfully held on 29 July 2020, with close to 200 audiences joining from various industries including banking, environmental agencies, real estate, and ESG investors.
The webinar was co-organized by Hong Kong Green Finance Association (HKGFA) and International Finance Corporation (IFC), and supported by the Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council (FSDC), the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC), the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA).
Read the Presentation Materials (Available in English and Chinese Versions)
29 July 2020
Moderator
- Tracy Wong Harris, Deputy Secretary General, Hong Kong Green Finance Association
Presenter
- Hao Guo, Program Lead, China Green Building Advisory, IFC
- Rusmir Musić, Global Business Development Lead, EDGE Green Buildings Market Transformation Program, IFC
Key takeaways from the webinar
- $18 trillion green buildings investment opportunities in Asia, the biggest green investment sector in the region.
- Climate change cannot be solved without tackling building emissions, Hong Kong alone need to decarbonize 11 million tons of Co2 by 2050
- Case studies across the globe demonstrated different approaches in accessing green buildings financing, resulting in tremendous utility savings, an increase in sales, and investors’ demand while keeping incremental costs at a minimum.
- IFC Green building certification software, EDGE, will be expanding to cover Hong Kong this year
Ms. Tracy Wong Harris, Deputy Secretary General, HKGFA motivated the audience to take immediate actions to grasp the tremendous possibilities and construct a lower carbon economy. ‘Green buildings industry presents the biggest green investment opportunities in the region. Innovative green financing and effective energy efficiency policies are the core enablers which require leadership and collaborations across both the public and private sectors.’
Mr. Rusmir Musić, Global Business Development Lead, EDGE Green Buildings Market Transformation Program, IFC suggested that taking a green approach to the building market is no longer difficult to achieve with well-developed technical measures and financial instruments ready to support. ‘If you build it, build it green.’
Ms. Hao Guo, Program Lead, China Green Building Advisory, IFC is enthusiastic about the future developments of green building certification in the China market for the upcoming years. She felt positive that the Greater Bay Area was well-backed by favorable government policies to exert the opportunities in the green buildings industry.