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Climate change
OpinionComment
Jill Baker
Jill Baker

The View | Hong Kong has the ability to be a green finance hub, but none of the vision

  • The success of the government’s green bond scheme provides plenty of scope for investing in groundbreaking energy projects and pursuing ambitious climate policy
  • Yet, our leaders can’t seem to think bigger than a few low-carbon buildings and waste management fees

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Residential buildings are seen beyond leaves of plants growing on a rooftop garden at the Metropole Plaza shopping mall in North Point, Hong Kong, on March 4, 2021. Photo: AFP
Jill Baker

Covid-19 has given many in Hong Kong a renewed appreciation for green living. During the pandemic, our sprawling country parks and stretches of coastline provided respite from the tense, dense city. Communing with nature was one of the things that friends told me had kept them sane over the past two years.

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That’s why it’s disappointing that our government does not appear more committed to a cleaner, greener environment and a more sustainable way of life. Its inaugural Retail Green Bond, marketed this month, was a wasted opportunity for promoting green policy.
Hong Kong aims to be one of Asia’s leading researchers into renewable energy like green hydrogen, according to Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing. Likewise, it sees itself evolving into a regional green finance hub, according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s deputy chief executive, Edmond Lau.

Though both goals are laudable and within reach, the government’s Retail Green Bond issuance feels more like cynical box checking than the opportunity it could be.

Why couldn’t Hong Kong use the bond as a platform to showcase its investment in climate mitigation, enhancing its green finance bona fides with a plan that citizens could get behind?

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Hong Kong is already a finance hub. The HKEX, its stock exchange, has a market capitalisation several times higher than that of Singapore, its regional rival, and has strong sustainability disclosure rules.

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