Speech by SFST at HKQAA Kick-off Ceremony for Initiative for Advancing Sustainability Disclosure Ecosystem in Financial Industry cum Seminar (English only)
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P C (Chief Executive Officer of the HKQAA, Mr P C Chan), Daphne (Deputy Chief Executive of the China Construction Bank (Asia) Corporation Limited, Ms Daphne Wat), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning, despite the rain. It is a great pleasure to join you for the Kick-off Ceremony for the Initiative for Advancing a Sustainability Disclosure Ecosystem in the Financial Industry.
I extend my sincere appreciation to the HKQAA under P C's leadership for organising this event, and for its steadfast commitment to advancing sustainable finance in Hong Kong. I also welcome our friends from across the financial sector. You are indeed the pioneers who have led the way in adopting sustainability disclosure. Today is not just the launch of an initiative but rather a collective pledge to build a better, greener future.
Indeed, the world is at a defining moment. Climate change and sustainability challenges are no longer issues on the horizon - they are the reality we face now. The global shift towards sustainability has become one of the defining movements of our era, evolving from aspiration to necessity.
The numbers tell a very compelling story. In 2023, global climate finance flows reached an all-time high of around US$1.9 trillion, more than doubling in just three years, and by 2028, this could reach at least US$6 trillion. This trajectory demonstrates that finance, as well as financial institutions, must be part of the solution, facilitating sustainable investments that will define the economic prosperity of the future.
Hong Kong is uniquely positioned to lead this change. We are not only an international financial centre but also an emerging green finance hub. With our deep pools of liquidity, advanced regulatory frameworks, and seamless connectivity to global markets, Hong Kong has become the gateway to mobilise capital in addressing regional and global sustainability challenges.
In 2025, green and sustainable debt issued in Hong Kong exceeded an impressive US$76 billion, with green and sustainable bonds arranged here accounting for about US$38 billion, or over 40 per cent of the regional total in Asia - an achievement that exemplifies market confidence in our platform.
The Government has introduced a comprehensive suite of initiatives to promote green finance. Under our Government Sustainable Bond Programme, we have issued since May 2019 government green bonds totalling about HK$258 billion, including the world's first tokenised green bond issued by a government and the world's first digital bond offering integrating e-CNY and e-HKD. Apart from government bonds, we have provided support to the issuance of green and sustainable debt instruments by extending the Green and Sustainable Finance Grant Scheme to 2027.
Capacity building also remains at the heart of progress. We have approved over 11 000 applications for training programmes as of June 2026, covering both practitioners and even students under the Pilot Green and Sustainable Finance Capacity Building Support Scheme. This ensures professionals remain abreast of the latest developments in sustainable finance, driving innovation and strengthening Hong Kong's competitive edge. The Hong Kong Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance was also expanded this year, adding manufacturing and ICT (information and communications technology) to its original four sectors. Phase 2 now includes climate change adaptation alongside mitigation, promoting investment in activities that both address climate change causes and minimise its impacts, ensuring robust, credible capital flows toward sustainable projects.
For carbon market, Core Climate under HKEX (Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited) is actively exploring cross-border carbon trading settlements with Greater Bay Area counterparts, as well as developing a broader ecosystem for green products on its platform, which are vital for linking regional and global carbon markets.
As markets evolve, so too does the regulatory landscape. Transparency in sustainability reporting has become indispensable. Our Roadmap on Sustainability Disclosure (Roadmap on Sustainability Disclosure in Hong Kong: Ambition‧Assurance‧Enablement), published in December 2024, sets out a clear pathway for large publicly accountable entities to fully adopt the ISSB Standards (International Financial Reporting Standards - Sustainability Disclosure Standards) by no later than 2028. This commitment was globally recognised when the IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) Foundation confirmed in June last year that Hong Kong is among the first jurisdictions worldwide to target full adoption of the ISSB benchmarks.
However, achieving regulatory alignment requires more than rules - it demands partnership, collaboration, and capacity-building. As arrangers, underwriters, investors, and asset managers, you all have been essential partners for participating in and contributing to this course. Today, with the launch of the Initiative for Advancing a Sustainability Disclosure Ecosystem in the Financial Industry, we take a bold step forward in strengthening Hong Kong's readiness to unite, innovate, collaborate, and lead in sustainable finance.
Leveraging HKQAA's data disclosure and assurance program and extending it across the financial sector, this initiative offers you a structured, credible, and scalable framework for collecting and verifying sustainability data from your clients, investees, and business partners. It reduces the burden of bespoke data requests - replacing them with a standardised approach that works across your entire portfolio. It also enhances your regulatory readiness, with assurance that the data you rely on meets the quality standards expected by your regulators and the Hong Kong standards.
By reducing complexity and improving efficiency, this initiative is not just a regulatory tool - it is a strategic enabler for financial institutions to lead in sustainability. And this is just the beginning. As more institutions join, the ecosystem will grow stronger and more valuable for all of you as participants.
I encourage financial institutions here today to embrace and contribute to this initiative. Your active engagement will shape the ecosystem and set the standard for the region. The Government also remains fully committed to consolidating Hong Kong's role as a premier sustainable finance centre in support of the nation's dual carbon goals. We will continue to work closely with our partners to develop a comprehensive, vibrant, and internationally aligned green finance ecosystem.
Collaboration is the lifeblood of sustainable finance. The challenges we face are simply too vast for any single organisation to solve alone. Together, let's build a sustainability disclosure ecosystem that is robust, scalable, and mostly importantly trusted - one that positions Hong Kong as the undisputed sustainable finance hub of Asia.
Thank you.
Ends/Thursday, July 16, 2026
Issued at HKT 12:55
Issued at HKT 12:55
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