Interview with Yu Weiwen, President of the Hong Kong Monetary Management Bureau: Hong Kong's green and sustainable debt financing volume is innovative, and the green classification framework proposal and consultation will be released before the beginning of next year

Southern Finance and Economics All -Media Council Reporter Guo Xiaojie Guangzhou Report

The "Outline of the Fourteenth Five -Year Plan" and the "Outline of the Development Planning of the Guangdong -Hong Kong -Macao Greater Bay Area" have proposed and supported Hong Kong as the status of Hong Kong as an international financial center, the global offshore RMB business hub, the international asset management center, and the risk management center. Support Hong Kong into a positioning of the Green Financial Center in the Greater Bay Area.

As an international financial center, how can Hong Kong undertake the role of "green bridge" and guide international funds to accelerate the investment of green financial assets in the Mainland and Bay Area, and support the real economic climate transformation in the Mainland?

"The scale of the green financial market in Hong Kong continues to grow. The green and sustainable debt financing volume arranged and issued in Hong Kong in 2021 reached a record high, reaching 57 billion US dollars, 4 times that of 2020; Occasionally one -third of the Asian market, arrange the number of issuances in the first place. "Yu Weiwen, president of the Hong Kong Financial Administration (hereinafter referred to as the" Hong Kong Financial Management Bureau "), said in an exclusive interview with Southern Finance Media reporters recently that in recent years, Hong Kong has been committed to promoting carbon reduction reduction Volumes, strive to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority actively promoted the development of green and sustainable financial, and a series of measures achieved bright results.

It is worth noting that the supervision team jointly initiated by the Hong Kong Monetary Administration and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Affairs Supervision Committee has announced the preliminary feasibility assessment of the Hong Kong carbon market opportunities in March this year, and its support for Hong Kong to develop into a regional carbon trading center Subsequent steps. The supervision team will formulate detailed roadmaps, implementation plans and timetables after consulting market experts and relevant departments.

In addition, the Hong Kong Monetary Administration plans to make specific suggestions on the structure and core elements of the green classification framework at the beginning of next year or before, and consult the industry with the application of the classification framework, such as regulatory reports, disclosure and product labels. We will also continue to maintain contact with relevant authorities and the industry, strengthen cooperation in the green financial field of the Greater Bay Area, and discuss how to promote the standards of standards.

Hong Kong Green and Sustainable Debt financing is innovative

Southern Finance: At present, what is the development of the Hong Kong bond market and green and sustainable finance?

Yu Weiwen: The Outline of the Fourteenth Five -Year Plan and the "Outline of the Development Planning of the Guangdong -Hong Kong -Macao Greater Bay Area" affirmed and supported Hong Kong as an international financial center, the global offshore RMB business hub, the international asset management center and the risk management center. Hong Kong was made into a Green Financial Center in the Greater Bay Area. In recent years, the country is developing green finance for high -quality transformation and development. The two major goals of the 30/60 carbon peak, carbon neutralization, and the two goals need to invest a lot of funds. As an international financial center, Hong Kong can just be able to play the role of "green bridge" and guide international funds to accelerate the green investment in the mainland and bay areas. Financial assets support the transformation of the real economy of the Mainland. At the same time, Hong Kong is also committed to promoting carbon emission reduction and striving to achieve the target of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. The HKMA has always assisted the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government to promote green and sustainable financial development, and a series of measures have achieved good results.

Hong Kong's green financial market has continued to grow. In 2021, the green and sustainable debt financing volume arranged and issued in Hong Kong reached a new high, reaching 57 billion U.S. dollars, 4 times that of 2020; of which the total international bonds reached 31.3 billion US dollars, accounting for one -third of the Asian market. The quantity ranks first.

After the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government issued green bonds for the first time in May 2019, it has continued to issue regular green bonds. So far, it has issued nearly $ 10 billion in equivalent, covering multiple currencies and years. Green bonds provide important benchmarks for potential issuers in the area. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government also issued the first batch of bonds of the government's euro and RMB pricing. Among them, the 20 -year euro bonds were euro green bonds with the longest -issued government category in Asia in November 2021.

In May this year, the Hong Kong SAR government also issued the first batch of green retail bonds to allow citizens to participate in and share the results brought about by the sustainable development of Hong Kong by investment methods, which has been enthusiastically supported by citizens. As the largest green retail bond in the world at that time, the issuance of Hong Kong's first batch of green retail bonds in Hong Kong marked another important milestone in the Hong Kong bond market and the development of green and sustainable financial markets.

Last year, the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government issued a total of 5 billion yuan of offshore RMB local government bonds in Hong Kong, including 3.9 billion yuan of green bonds. This is the first time that local people's government bonds are issued in Hong Kong, which will help encourage more in the Mainland and Bay Area institutions to issue various green and sustainable products in Hong Kong.

In addition, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government also launched a three -year "green and sustainable financial funding plan" in May 2021, which funded the bond issuance of bond issuers and borrowers for qualified bonds. It is planned to be welcomed by the industry. As of the end of August 2022, more than 130 applications have been approved, involving green and sustainable bonds and loans involving a total issue of $ 40 billion. The plan also encouraged more financial institutions and external review institutions to set up or expand business in Hong Kong.

The detailed roadmap and timetable of the Hong Kong carbon market opportunity will be formulated

Southern Finance: How does the Hong Kong HKMA and local supervision and mainland supervision communicate with green financial issues and what are the progress? Yu Weiwen: In order to promote more mainland companies to better use Hong Kong's green financial platforms, the HKMA and the People's Bank of China Guangzhou Branch cooperated to formulate the "Reference for the Process of Green Bonds in the Hong Kong Market to the Hong Kong Market" to allow more mainland non -financial Enterprises understand and master the relevant operation points and business processes of green bonds to issue green bonds in Hong Kong.

In addition, in order to coordinate and coordinate the work of relevant government departments and financial regulatory agencies, the HKMA and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Affairs Supervision Committee jointly launched the green and sustainable financial crossing institutional supervision team (below below It is called the "supervision team") to promote the development of Hong Kong's green and sustainable finance from multi -dimensional financial supervision, market development, and carbon market opportunities.

At this stage, the supervision team is promoting the relevant industries to disclose the framework of the climate -related financial disclosure working group in 2025 or before, and appropriately adopt the International Financial Report Standard Fund to formulate a sustainable development disclosure standard. The supervision team also aims to discuss the establishment of a green classification framework for the use of the "common green classification directory" (CGT) formulated by China and the European Union. Hong Kong's standards are in line with the best international approach.

In order to assist the challenges faced by skills and data in the financial industry, the supervision team established a green and sustainable financial center in July 2021 (hereinafter referred to as the "center"), which is responsible for coordinating financial regulatory agencies, government departments, and industry holders And academic institutions' work in training and policy formulation, and enhance cross -border exchanges and cooperation. In 2022, the center has successively launched information libraries about data resources, training information and internship opportunities in order to obtain data and learning resources related to green and sustainable finance in the industry and public. We are also working with the government to plan to launch the "Green and Resistance Renewal Pilot Program" announced in the 2022-23 fiscal budget to promote the participation of current or aspiration to participate in the training.

In terms of carbon market opportunities, the supervision team announced the preliminary feasibility assessment of the carbon market opportunities in Hong Kong in March 2022, and its support for Hong Kong to develop into a regional carbon trading center. The supervision team will formulate detailed roadmaps, implementation plans and timetables after consulting market experts and relevant departments.

Release the green classification framework before the beginning of next year and conduct consultation

Southern Finance: What are the suggestions or thinking of the unified standards of green finance in the Greater Bay Area?

Yu Weiwen: Under the platform of the green and sustainable financial crossing institutional supervision group, we have been working with other financial regulatory agencies in Hong Kong to discuss the establishment of a green classification framework for the local market.

Hong Kong, as the national financial center, is both facing the mainland and the international. So when we consider establishing a green classification framework, it must be conducive to international green financial financial communication. Therefore, our goal is not to set up a new set of green standards, but to hope to establish a set of tools in order to benefit financial institutions to make full use of the mainstream green financial standards. This includes the "Common Green Classification Catalog" (CGT) released by the International Sustainable Financial Platform, the "Green Bond Support Project Catalog (2021 Edition)" of the Mainland, and the EU Green Classification. We will also consider some green activity industry standards and local factors that are generally adopted by financial institutions in Hong Kong.

This framework must take into account the three principles of interoperability, comparability and compatibility to ensure that Hong Kong can be in line with the Mainland and internationally and internationally and promote green capital. We plan to make specific suggestions on the structure and core elements of the classification framework at the beginning of next year or before, and consult the industry with the application of the classification framework, such as regulatory reports, disclosure and product labels. We will also continue to maintain contact with relevant authorities and the industry, strengthen cooperation in the green financial field of the Greater Bay Area, and discuss how to promote the standards of standards.

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