On Day 1 of the Asian Financial Forum 2022 (10th January 2022), HKGFA representatives spoke on various sessions to share their view on green and sustainable finance developments and actions required –

Dr. Ma Jun, Chairman and President, Hong Kong Green Finance Association (HKGFA), at the Asian Financial Forum (AFF) panel “Policy Responses to Climate Change and Economic Recovery”, moderated by Mr. Eddie Yue, Chief Executive, Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). Dr. Ma discusses with fellow panelists – Mr. Ashley Alder, Securities and Futures Commission, Mr. Klaas Knot, De Nederlandsche Bank, Mr. Benjamin E. Diokno, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Ms. Teresa Ko, IFRS Foundation, on how global policy can better support a green and sustainable global economic recovery and highlights a few key initiatives that the G20, IPFS and PBOC are working on:

1. G20: comparability, interoperability, and consistency of international sustainable finance taxonomies, supporting the ISSB in the development of a consistent set of sustainability reporting standards, developing a framework for transition finance and expanding the coverage of sustainable finance to include biodiversity.
2. IPFS common ground taxonomy (CGT) adoption by issuers, verifiers and other jurisdictions. China Construction Bank issued the first green bond under CGT in December, and CGT being used as a tool/ benchmark for other jurisdictions to develop their own taxonomies, such as Sri Lanka.
3. PBOC: refining its taxonomies, rules on use of green bond proceeds, climate risk analysis reporting and carbon accounting by domestic financial institutions. To incentive the market and support the transition to carbon neutrality, PBOC recently launched the decarbonization facility (or carbon emission reduction facility), a low cost funding for green projects available through commercial banks.

In the later HKGFA panel session “Innovation in Sustainable Finance”, moderated by Mr. Ben McQuhae, HKGFA Special Advisor to the Chairman, Founder of Ben McQuhae & Co, experts in sustainable finance and innovation, Ms. Tracy Wong Harris, Ms. Benedicte Nolens, Mr. Bill Kentrup, Mr. Michael Sheren discussed the significance of Project Genesis – a prototype digital infrastructure that enables green investments, improves transparency on the use of proceeds, the need for reliable carbon pricing, block chain technology and the emerging innovative sustainable finance products to accelerate the transition to carbon neutrality.

From left to right: Mr. Ben McQuhae, Vice President & Special Advisor to Chairman, Hong Kong Green Finance Association; Founder, Ben McQuhae and Co ; Ms. Benedicte Nolens, Head, BIS Innovation Hub, Hong Kong Centre ; Ms. Tracy Wong Harris, Vice President and Deputy Secretary General of Hong Kong Green Finance Association (HKGFA); Head of Sustainable Finance for Greater China and North Asia at Standard Chartered Bank ; Mr Bill Kentrup
Co-founder and Head of Origination, Allinfra

Virtual Speaker:
Mr Michael Sheren, Senior Advisor of the Bank of England

Hong Kong Green Finance Association (HKGFA) has been a stronger supporter of the Asian Financial Forum since 2019. In  Asian Financial Forum 2022, HKGFA is a co-organiser of the “Innovation in Sustainable Finance” panel session. Our Chairman and President, Dr. Ma Jun, is also a member of the AFF Steering Committee.