Hong Kong energised as global investment hub for green technology

Government agency InvestHK’s first new energy mission to the UK showcases city’s robust sustainable finance and innovation ecosystem

Record-breaking heat, devastating droughts, deadly wildfires and heavy rain and severe floods around the world over recent months have sparked a new urgency in the search for practical solutions to climate change.

The challenge for governments is not only to generate cleaner sources of power, but also to use safer and more efficient energy technologies and storage systems that are affordable and scalable so they can have a global impact.

Hong Kong is increasingly positioning itself as an integral player in this transition. Locally, the city aims to cut its carbon emissions from the 2005 level by half before 2035, and to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050. This is aligned with China’s “dual carbon goals” – to reach peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.

Diane Wong Shuk-han, Hong Kong’s under secretary for environment and ecology, says: “As a ‘superconnector’ and ‘super value-adder’, Hong Kong can serve as a demonstration platform for green and low-carbon technologies and facilitate the export of technologies and products developed on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong.

“The city, as an international financial centre, can help provide green financing and professional services required to scale up green technologies across the region and globally, thereby dovetailing with the strategy of cultivating and expanding emerging and future industries under the national 15th five-year plan.”

As part of this sustainability push, InvestHK, the city government’s foreign investment agency, partnered with the United Kingdom’s Department of Business and Trade to lead a new energy and sustainability delegation, comprising representatives of 25 green technology companies from Hong Kong and the mainland, to the UK in June. They were able to study the latter’s energy transition journey and meet experts from government agencies and universities and potential investment partners.

The visit reflects a shift in Hong Kong’s role to become a global investment hub for green innovation.