HKMA to require banks to meet Hong Kong’s 2030-2050 targets on carbon emissions
The authority also says banks must ensure their lendings to companies and projects are net zero by 2050
The HKMA unveiled these goals, which are part of its “Sustainable Finance Action Agenda”, on Monday.
“Climate change is the defining challenge of our time,” said Eddie Yue Wai-man, the HKMA’s CEO.
Yue said Hong Kong as an international financial centre has a responsibility to facilitate sustainable fund flows while “ensuring that banks manage the risks associated with net zero properly”.
Under the Paris climate accord, world leaders have committed to containing global warming at “well below” 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and to strive to keep it at 1.5 degrees. China expects to reach peak carbon emissions by the end of this decade and aims to be net zero in terms of emissions by 2060, the same year it wants to cut its use of fossil fuels to below 20 per cent of its total energy consumption. For its part, Hong Kong expects to achieve net-zero emissions ahead of 2050.
