Hong Kong, as a leading international financial center and Asia's sustainable finance hub, can help channel international capital to support low-carbon green transition, the city’s environment chief said at an UN climate change meeting in Brazil on Tuesday.
“We welcome and encourage enterprises worldwide to utilize Hong Kong's capital market and financial services for raising international capital for their sustainable projects,” Tse Chin-wan said at a side event of the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30) in Belém.
He made the call while detailing early actions taken by the special administrative region to reduce carbon in his opening speech at the China pavilion's side event titled “Converging Innovation in Hong Kong: Forging a Resilient City and a Global Green Finance Hub”.
Pointing out that Hong Kong stopped the building of coal-fired power plants in 1997 and has been gradually shifting to natural gas and nuclear power, he said the SAR reached its carbon peak in 2014.
“Compared to the peak, the carbon emissions have reduced by about a quarter now; per capita emissions have reduced by about 30 percent to below 4.5 tonnes per year, which is about a quarter of that of the United States and 60 percent of the European Union.”
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To achieve an interim target to halve the peak emission before 2035 and carbon neutrality before 2050, the city’s Climate Action Plan 2050 has put forward a four-pronged strategy: to go for net-zero carbon electricity supply; to promote energy saving and green buildings; to promote green transport; and to achieve zero landfilling of wastes, which is necessary to reduce methane, said the secretary for environment and ecology.
By 2035, Hong Kong will stop using coal for power generation, increase raise share of zero carbon electricity supply to over 60 percent, stop selling conventional fueled private cars including hybrids, and stop landfilling of municipal wastes, he added.
Tse pointed out that the use of coal for electricity generation has been cut to about 15 percent, while around 60 percent of the electricity supply is by natural gas and 25 percent by nuclear, as of now.
Speaking about the progress on promoting green transport, he said, “Out of 10 newly registered private cars, seven are now electric. We are also developing a public charging network based on super-fast charging technologies. Furthermore, an electric vehicle battery recycling facility is coming into operation next year.”
The SAR has made tremendous efforts in the last three years to achieve zero landfilling, which has successfully reduced waste disposal by 10 percent, while quantities of material recycled have increased by 30 percent, according to the environment chief.
The first large-scale waste-to-energy facility is coming into operation in November, and the second one is being tendered for completion by 2030, he added.
While gearing up to develop itself into a green maritime fuel bunkering and trading center, the HKSAR is working with the Chinese mainland to develop a production base for sustainable aviation fuel in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay area, he said.
“Our capital market offers a wide range of green and sustainable investment products. As of June 2025, over 200 ESG (environmental, social, and governance) funds were authorized by the Securities and Futures Commission, with assets under management over HK$1.1 trillion.”
In this context, the secretary mentioned that the volume of green and sustainable bonds arranged in Hong Kong last year amounted to around $43 billion, capturing around 45 percent of the regional total and ranking first in the Asian market for seven consecutive years.
As of October 2025, the SAR government has issued green bonds totaling about $31 billion equivalent denominated in Hong Kong dollar, Renminbi, euro, and US dollar, providing important benchmarks for potential issuers in Hong Kong and in the region.
Stressing the vitality of accurate, consistent and relevant information about sustainability-related matters, Tse said Hong Kong's Core Climate is currently the only carbon marketplace offering settlement in both Hong Kong dollars and Renminbi for international voluntary carbon credits.
“The low-carbon green transition is a difficult journey and yet has opened up many new collaboration opportunities,” he said, calling for international cooperation to tackle the challenge of climate change.
Among those attending the event were Secretary General of ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability Gino Van Begin, Chairman of the Council for Carbon Neutrality and Sustainable Development Dr Lam Ching-choi, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Sustainable Energy for All Stefano Marguccio, and Vice-Chairperson of Friends of the Earth (HK) Ophelia Lin.
