Serena Mak, Green Finance Advisor of Friends of the Earth (HK) / Serena Mak, 香港地球之友綠色金融顧問
If we look beyond Hong Kong, the topic of Green Finance is picking up momentum globally. Governments are putting up measures such as initiatives to incentivize green investing or laws & regulations that penalize corporations that are negatively impacting the environment. In the private sector, it can be seen that green investments can generate good returns, which is encouraging to see. Apart from products such as Green Bonds, China is also engaging in innovative ways to ‘monetize’ the effect of business to the environment, such as the first China Emissions Exchange located in Shenzhen which was established in 2013 and is trading ‘emission allowances’ for carbon dioxide.
As mentioned by the various interviewees in one of our inaugural blog videos, there is a great need for international collaboration across boundaries to promote the topic of Green Finance. Few examples include the setting up of the US-China Green Fund which is supported by both the US and China government, and also the recent collaboration between the French Development Agency (AFD) and a Chinese Bank.
Hong Kong as one of the world’s biggest financial markets has a unique opportunity to also promote cross-border collaboration to further expand its footprint in the Green Finance space.
Some opinion article about emission trading system can be found here:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201905/20/WS5ce27fcfa3104842260bcb48.html
News Article about AFD and Chinese bank collaboration:
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-06/04/c_138116512.htm
觀乎香港以外，綠色金融的勢頭正在全球各地快速增長。各國政府做了多項政策，例如帶頭鼓勵綠色投資或實施政策、推行法例懲處破壞環境的企業。在私人企業層面上，我們樂見進行綠色投資可獲得有利回報。除了綠色債券等工具，中國內地亦將商業對環境的影響「貨幣化」，例如2013年起在深圳成立首間排放權交易所，為二氧化碳提供｢排放配額」的交易。
就如綠色金融網誌其中一條影片提及，我們迫切需要跨界別的國際合作齊心宣傳綠色金融。獲美國和中國政府支持的中美綠色基金的成立，以及法國開發署和一所中國內地銀行最近的合作，便是最佳例子。
香港作為世界最大金融市場之一，擁有豐厚條件宣傳跨境合作，進一步在綠色金融領域上擴大足跡。
你可在以下網站瀏覽一些關於排放交易的討論文章：
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201905/20/WS5ce27fcfa3104842260bcb48.html
有關法國開發署和中國內地銀行的合作新聞：
