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Business of climate change
BusinessBanking & Finance

Green finance: Hong Kong close to setting up voluntary carbon trading platform to tackle climate change, says bourse CEO

  • Having partnered with potential buyers and sellers to better understand their needs, HKEX is building the infrastructure for ‘a first class platform’
  • In July, HKEX launched the Hong Kong International Carbon Market Council to foster collaborations for developing an international carbon market

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Hong Kong already leads the pack in Asia when it comes to green loans and bonds. Photo: Shutterstock
Eric Ng
Hong Kong is close to establishing an exchange-based voluntary carbon credits trading market, which would bolster its stature in Asia’s green finance sector where it already leads the pack when it comes to green bonds, according to the city’s bourse operator.
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After recently forming partnerships with potential buyers, sellers and intermediaries to better understand their needs, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) is building the infrastructure for “a first class platform,” said its CEO, Nicolas Aguzin.

“We are getting very close,” he told the Hong Kong Green Finance Association’s annual forum on Thursday. “We are making a lot of progress, and in the not-so-distant future I would expect to start to see carbon [credits] being traded in our market, and that will be a great contributor to … the sustainability agenda in the region.”

In July, HKEX launched the Hong Kong International Carbon Market Council to foster collaborations for developing an international carbon market in Hong Kong.

Inaugural members include the Hong Kong units of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Bank of China, BNP Paribas, HSBC, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Standard Chartered Bank.

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Corporate members include greenhouse gas emitters and potential credit buyers Cathay Pacific Airways and Tencent Holdings, besides green project developers and potential credit sellers China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group, China Forestry Group and State Power Investment Corporation.

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