The Alliance has been established to increase funding channels for green projects and guide government policies and investment projects.

The Hong Kong Green Finance Association (HKGFA) has announced the official launch of the Greater Bay Area Green Finance Alliance (GBA-GFA), to promote green finance in and facilitate the greening of the Greater Bay Area.

“Green finance is an important initiative of the central government,” said Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po in his opening remarks at the launch ceremony. “The Greater Bay Area Green Finance Alliance therefore is pivotal in promoting the green finance standards and certification in Greater Bay Area.”

The GBA-GFA is a collaboration between the Hong Kong Green Finance Association (HKGFA), the Green Finance Committee of Guangdong Society for Finance and Banking (GDGFC), the Green Finance Committee of Financial Society of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SZGFC), and the Macau Association of Banks.

The Alliance aims to promote research and incubate green investments that will benefit the GBA by leveraging green investment demand in Guangdong and the green finance capacities in Hong Kong and Macau.

It is so far supporting five green finance-related projects. Three of the projects are led by Hong Kong: the Green Building Project, which aims to create green finance opportunities in the building industry; Blockchain Solar Project, which aims to deliver innovative funding structures and new classes of digital sustainable investments to accelerate solar energy projects; and Carbon Connect, which seeks to establish a carbon marketplace for cross-border trading.

The two other projects are a research project involving solid waste disposal led by Shenzhen, and the development of a green supply chain financing action guide led by Guangdong.

The Alliance will seek to mobilise talent, technologies and financial resources for green finance innovation to benefit the GBA, in line with financial support guidelines jointly issued by the PBOC (People’s Bank of China), CBIRC (China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission), CSRC (China Securities Regulatory Commission) and SAFE (State Administration of Foreign Exchange).

One of the key measures in the guidelines is to facilitate collaboration on green finance in the GBA, through the establishment of a green finance cooperation mechanism and the construction of a Guangzhou Futures Exchange to support Hong Kong in becoming a GBA green finance hub.

Source: Regulation Asia Website