Financial Secretary Paul Chan today departed Davos, Switzerland to return to Hong Kong after concluding his attendance at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting.

Yesterday, Mr Chan spoke at a thematic session focused on how public-private collaboration can advance carbon neutrality goals against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions, a global economic slowdown, and high debt levels in advanced economies.

Mr Chan highlighted that both China and Hong Kong are steadily progressing towards carbon neutrality. He explained Hong Kong’s target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and its strategies to realise it – including tax concessions for electric vehicles, incentives for green buildings, and financial support for trials of innovative technologies such as sustainable hydrogen-powered transport.

He said that, as an international financial centre, Hong Kong facilitates private capital participation in the decarbonisation process through a rich green finance ecosystem that includes green bonds and Environmental, Social & Governance funds.

Mr Chan outlined that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government encourages financial innovation, including the issuance of tokenised green bonds to allow wider investor participation in green projects, and the securitisation of loans for infrastructure projects to release capital for reinvestment into new projects.

The finance chief stressed that public support and trust are key to achieving a green transition, adding that Hong Kong SAR Government ensures that funds are genuinely used for green projects by formulating internationally aligned standards.

He said that for high-emission enterprises, such as mining companies, listing in Hong Kong not only enables them to access capital to support their development but also helps enhance their corporate governance, transparency and recognition in global markets.

The Financial Sectary also met WEF President & Chief Executive Officer Børge Brende, and International Monetary Fund First Deputy Managing Director Dan Katz to exchange views on various aspects of global finance.

In addition, he held meetings with PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Chairman Mohamed Kande, AXA Group Chief Executive Officer Thomas Buberl, and Amazon Web Services Global Public Policy Vice President Michael Punke.