In recent years, there has been increasing attention globally on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, with accelerated focus following the 2020 outbreak of the pandemic on concerns of sustainability and broader social issues such as healthcare, rising poverty and social inequalities. COP26 this year will be the fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the Paris Agreement, as a legally binding international agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Many countries and governments are committing to meeting Paris-aligned climate targets, towards limiting global warming to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. There is increasing urgency that much more concrete steps and significant levels of investments are needed through green or sustainable finance, or the world would likely miss this target, with potential catastrophic consequences of climate change that would need to be addressed.

Hong Kong has a strategic role in driving capital and investments towards green or sustainable finance, being among the world’s largest stock exchanges by market capitalisation, and as an international financial centre and asset management hub. This publication highlights Hong Kong’s efforts in supporting market development in green or sustainable finance, covering the broad overview of policy direction as well as the current state of regulatory requirements relevant to sustainable finance or ESG in Hong Kong, including corporate ESG disclosures, green or sustainable finance investment and products, and green banking and finance.

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