Hong Kong can be Asia’s go-to hub for green infrastructure financing needs, sustainability forum hears

Asia’s going to need US$30 trillion worth of infrastructure, much of it resilient green infrastructure, says executive of supply chain giant Fung Group’s learning unit

Hong Kong ‘will only have the credibility to intermediate sustainable finance if our own corporate sector can step up to the task’

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The Hong Kong government views China’s carbon neutral ambitions as providing the city with huge opportunities to develop into a green finance hub. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 12:00pm, 1 Oct 2021Updated: 8:50pm, 1 Oct 2021

Hong Kong could become an intermediary for Asia’s green infrastructure financing needs, but only if businesses step up their sustainability drive and establish the city’s credibility in project implementation, according to Fung Academy, the learning arm of supply chain manager Fung Group.

“Asia’s going to need US$30 trillion worth of infrastructure, and much of that is going to need to be resilient green infrastructure. Why shouldn’t Hong Kong intermediate all of that?” Pamela Mar, Fung Academy’s executive vice-president, told the The Economist’s “Growing sustainable businesses in Hong Kong” webinar on Thursday.

The Hong Kong government has been working with local and mainland Chinese regulators to assess the feasibility and policy support required for developing the city as a carbon trading centre for the Greater Bay Area and Asia. It sees China’s carbon neutral ambitions as providing Hong Kong with huge opportunities to develop into a green finance hub and regional carbon trading centre. Green finance covers the financing of infrastructure that has environmental benefits, such as renewable energy projects, besides the trading of carbon emission offset units and quotas.

While there is global momentum to invest in green infrastructure, the actual volume of investment is still well below desired targets, according to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Hong Kong is not the only city eyeing an intermediary role in Asia’s green finance opportunities. To tackle the “significant funding gap”, London-based HSBC Holdings and Singapore investment bank Temasek on Thursday announced a partnership to establish a debt financing platform based in Singapore, dedicated to sustainable infrastructure projects in Asia. The platform will aim to fund more than US$1 billion of loans within five years. it will target renewable energy and storage, water and waste treatment and sustainable transport.

“These things, the financial market and the corporate market, don’t move separately. They are one market. [Hong Kong] will only have the credibility to intermediate sustainable finance if our own corporate sector can step up to the task,” Mar said.

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