How Hong Kong can distinguish itself as a climate finance hub

For decades, New York and London have defined the flow of global capital. But while markets still chase short-term returns in US equities, the next great wave of productive investment is taking shape in East Asia, led by China’s financing, manufacturing and export of the clean technologies that are remaking the global economy.

That contrast has only widened. As the United States retreats from climate leadership, China has doubled down. A day after US President Donald Trump called climate change a “scam”, President Xi Jinping announced China’s first absolute emissions-reduction target and called on the international community to stay focused on the green transition as the “trend of our time”. The message was clear: Beijing intends to lead in the clean technology industries of the future.

China is already deploying renewables, grid infrastructure and storage at a speed and scale unseen anywhere else, and can produce almost a terawatt of new renewable-energy capacity each year, enough to replace more than 300 nuclear power plants. In 2024 alone, clean-energy industries, including solar, wind, batteries, grids and electric mobility, accounted for more than 10 per cent of China’s gross domestic product.

The technologies developed and scaled in China have driven down global costs for everything from photovoltaics to grid batteries, making large-scale electrification economically viable across much of the developing world. As a result, China’s emissions may already be declining, and its exports of low-cost clean-energy systems are speeding up across the rest of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Hong Kong sits at the centre of this transformation, and Beijing has just reaffirmed its role, emphasising its importance as the bridge between China’s markets and global capital. At the recent Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit, senior Chinese regulators pledged to deepen Hong Kong’s integration with the mainland’s financial system and strengthen its function as a “superconnector” between Chinese capital and global markets.

Hong Kong already ranks among the world’s leading financial centres and leads Asia in green and sustainable bond issuance. Its asset and wealth management sector now exceeds HK$35 trillion (US$4.49 billion), supported by strong inflows.

  

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