Our programme
The Asian Corporate Coalition for Climate Change Resilience (A4CR) aims to accelerate climate action and build climate-resilient cities in Asia, through advising and supporting businesses and investors in tackling the current and future impacts of climate change. It is initiated by the World Green Organisation (WGO), with Arup and PricewaterhouseCoopers Hong Kong (PwC) as technical advisors.
Climate-related disclosure for sustainable business
To achieve their nationally determined contributions (NDC) and decarbonisation plans under the Paris Agreement, more and more countries are introducing legislation to make climate-related disclosure mandatory for major businesses and organisations. This suggests that sustainable businesses must transit to low/net zero carbon economy, adapt to climate-related physical changes and disclose climate-related risks.
The multitude of works required, and the complexity involved have made it clear that climate change preparation is not just a component under the umbrella of tradition CSR or ESG corporate agenda; but a more holistic and systematic approach to preparing for climate change. The A4CR is established to support corporates and businesses to understand and address climate-related risks, and enhance their readiness for more rigorous climate-related company disclosures.
Main themes of A4CR
Scientific understanding
Global and regional experts to help understanding climate-related risks and the preparatory works required by governments, investors and international institutions
Connecting
Connect to other major businesses in Asia to share experiences for climate change preparation
Benchmarking
Global and regional experts to assist comparison to international industry-specific best practices and ratings in climate change preparation
Through interlinked activities surrounding our main themes, the coalition platform will :
- – Form a strategic coalition among major businesses in Asia to prepare businesses for mainstream climate actions into corporate governance, strategies and operations as well as financing
- – Facilitate knowledge and experience sharing of climate-related transition, adaptation and disclosure as well as green financing
- – Generate a comprehensive benchmarking scheme to assess member companies’ progress in climate-related preparation
- – Promote discussion on setting up standardised roadmaps and reporting metrics for consistent climate actions and disclosure that are relevant in this region and readily communicable to prospective stakeholders including institutional investors.
Memberships and benefits
A4CR is a valuable opportunity for companies to demonstrate business leadership in accelerating the regional climate resilience agenda. We welcome companies to join us as a Steering member or Ordinary member. The benefits include:
- – Access best practices and emerging trends in climate-related risks assessment from business leaders and experts through workshops and conferences
- – Connect with like-minded organisations and expand their network in the business community through formal and social events
- – Benchmark against peers in the industry to evaluate gaps of tackling climate change
- – Raise company profile for quality climate disclosure, climate responsible actions and green investment
Please refer to the brochure [link] for details.
Our Experts
Initiator
Dr William YU (WGO)
Founder and CEO of World Green Organisation
PhD from University of Cambridge
Task Force Member, United Nations ESCAP ESBN
Member, Council for Sustainable Development, HKSAR Government
Primary Climate Technical Advisors
Prof Johnny CHAN
World-renowned climate scientist with over 40 years of climate and weather research experience
Former Head of The Guy Carpenter Asia-Pacific Climate Impact Centre, City University of Hong Kong
Dr Vincent CHENG
Arup Fellow and Director in Sustainability, East Asia
Director of the Hong Kong Green Building Council
Winner of the 2018/19 Sustainability Leader of the Year at the Hong Kong Sustainability Award
Dr Bruce CHONG
Director of City Advisory and Climate Service
Cambridge Overseas Scholar
Winner of HKIE Young Green Leader Award 2013
Task Force Member, Financial Services Development Council
Dr Homan WONG
Climate resilience expert with over 15 years of experience in climate modelling and engineering management
Associate Fellow of Royal Meteorological Society
Recipient of two full scholarships for numerical climate modelling studies
Full stack developer of cloud-based climate modelling system on high-performance computer system
Primary ESG Reporting Technical Advisors
Cyrus CHEUNG
Partner, ESG Services – ESG Reporting
Divisional Councillor and Chairperson of ESG Committee of the CPA Australia – Greater China
Deputy Chairman of Sustainability Committee of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Accountants (HKICPA)
Extensive experience in sustainability advisory, corporate governance, risk management, internal controls and assurance
Roy CHAN
Partner, ESG Services – Socio-economic and Financial Impact Assessment
15 years of experience in economic impact assessment, market and demand analysis, and financial viability assessment for ESG projects
Dr Albert WONG
Partner, ESG Services – Smart City and Public Sector Consulting
Over 20 years of experience in policy formulation and review, feasibility studies and business planning in the areas of innovation and technology (I&T) and economic development
Simon BOOKER
Partner, ESG Services – Infrastructure Financing
25 years of experience with an expertise in funding options, public-private partnership (PPP) advisory and concession-based infrastructure
Members
(Listed in alphabetical order)
Steering members
Ordinary members
Supporting Organisation
(Listed in alphabetical order)
Events and activities
A4CR Fourth Member Meeting and Training Session
We organised the 4th members meeting and training session on 29th Jan,2024 and glad to have Ms. Lit Ping Low, Asia Pacific Sustainability, Climate Change Partner, PwC Hong Kong and Mr. Tim Wong, Associate of Arup to be our speakers to share their visit on COP28, Dubai and together with our guest speakers – Mr. Kevin Ng, CEO, InnoBlock Technology and Mr CK Wong, President, Masterkote Film Centre Limited to share their views on the following topics:
- COP28 and carbon credit procurement and management
- Heat Reduction and Solar shade Technology
We are happy to see some new faces of our members and supporting organisations. We looking forward to our next event soon!
Event Highlight
A4CR Third Member Meeting and Training Session (Jointly organised with The Chamber of Hong Kong Listed Companies (CHKLC))
We organised the Third members meeting and training session on 13th Apr,2023 and glad to have Mr. Mike Wong, CEO of The Chamber of Hong Kong Listed Companies (CHKLC) to be our honorable guest and thrilled to have Mr. Anthony CHEUNG, Advisor of A4CR and Ms. Lit Ping LOW, Partner, Climate Change Leader, PwC Asia Pacific, together with the guest speaker – Mr. Bien WONG, Manager, Corporate Affairs, ESG and Mainland Business Strategy, Towngas to share their views on the following topics:
- Effective Climate Governance on Corporate Boards
- Integrating climate- and nature-related risks.
We are happy to see some new faces of our members and supporting organisations. We looking forward to our next event soon!
Event Highlight
A4CR Second Members Meeting and Training Workshop
We organised the second members meeting and training session on 27th Oct,2022 and glad to have Ms. Ellie Tang, Director, Sustainable Investing, Fidelity International, and Prof Shelley Zhou, Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, HKUST to be our speakers to share their views on Sustainable Investing, Green Washing and ESG.
We are happy to see some new faces of our members and looking forward to our next event soon!
Event Highlight
A4CR first Steering Members meeting and Training Session
We organised our first Steering Members meeting and Training Session earlier this month, inviting Mr. Andrew Chan, Sustainability & Climate Change, Strategy & Transformation Leader at PwC, and Prof Johnny Chan, Advisor at Arup to share their expertise and best practices in climate governance and strategic climate actions.
The hybrid event was well received and it was great to meet some of our members! Thank you for all our members’ support.
Event Highlight
(Hong Kong – 28 April 2022) Initiated by the World Green Organisation (WGO), with Arup and PricewaterhouseCoopers Hong Kong (PwC) as technical advisors, the Asian Corporate Coalition for Climate Change Resilience (A4CR) was launched today to support businesses in tackling climate change and build a first-of-its-kind climate-resilient business community in Asia. Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Joseph Chan, and Director and Head of Policy Research, Financial Services Development Council, Dr Rocky Tung, officiated the online launching ceremony.
Event Highlight
Advisors
Advisors (Finance)
Anthony CHEUNG
HKGFA Green and Sustainable Insurance Working Group Co-chair
Board Governor at Friends of the Earth (HK)
Managing Director, ESG Polymer Capital
Prof Ye QI
HKGFA Policy Research and Dissemination Working Group Co-chair
Director of Institute for Public Policy, HKUST
Professor and Acting Head of Innovation, Policy and Entrepreneurship Thrust, HKUST (Guangzhou)
Ricco ZHANG
Senior Director, Asia Pacific, International Capital Market Association (ICMA)
Responsible for the Greater China development of ICMA, working closely with regulators, financial institutions and other organisations in the region
Advisors (Academia)
Prof Irene LO
Chair Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, HKUST
Senior Fellow, HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study
Research experience in life cycle assessment of construction materials and green building
Prof Shelley ZHOU
Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, HKUST
Previous Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Centre for Carbon Innovation, University of Edinburgh
Frequently Asked Questions
The A4CR is a non-profit alliance supported by the following key organisations:
• The Word Green Organisation (WGO) as the initiator;
• Ove Arup & Partners Ltd (Arup) and PricewaterhouseCoopers Hong Kong (PwC) as the technical support; and
• Other key advisors from the industry, academia and professional institutions.
Vision
To be a coalition platform for a climate-resilient business community in Asia.
Mission
To support companies on their systematic preparation for climate change disclosure and actions. The objectives of A4CR are to:
• Form a strategic coalition among major businesses in Asia to prepare companies to mainstream climate actions into corporate governance, strategies and operations as well as financing;
• Facilitate knowledge and experience sharing of climate-related transition, adaptation and disclosure as well as green financing;
• Develop a comprehensive benchmarking scheme to assess progress of coalition members in climate-related disclosure; and,
• Promote discussion on setting up standardized roadmaps and reporting metrics for consistent climate actions and disclosure that are relevant in this region and readily communicable to prospective stakeholders including regulators and institutional investors.
A4CR comprises two main governance parties:
• Management Team – is responsible for the operations of the alliance and delivery of events and activities.
• Advisory Board – comprises representatives from the management team, steering committee and key advisors to advise the management team on the strategic direction of A4CR.
The World Green Organisation (WGO) is an independent non-governmental organisation concerned with environmental conservation and environmentally related livelihood and economic affairs. It provides a holistic approach to a fully integrated three-pronged solution that combines social, environmental and economic dimensions for a paradigm shift towards low-carbon and climate-resilient development pathways.
Arup and PwC Hong Kong are the technical advisors of A4CR, helping to strengthen the climate-related foundation of the coalition.
No, the A4CR is not profit-making. The collected membership fee will all be used for members’ activities such as events, trainings, benchmarking etc.
The benefits include:
- – Access to best practices and emerging trends in climate-related risks assessment from business leaders and experts through workshops and conferences
- – Connect with like-minded organisations and expand your network in the business community through formal and social events
- – Benchmark against peers in the industry to evaluate gaps of tackling climate change
- – Raise company profile for quality climate disclosure, climate responsible actions and green investment
Yes, the membership scheme is split into two tiers – steering members and corporate members. Please refer to the brochure for details of the membership scheme.
For ordinary members – participation is entirely optional. Members are welcome to join activities, such as networking events and training sessions, on a voluntary basis.
For steering members – each steering member shall appoint one representative as the steering committee of the Advisory Board. The representatives will attend the annual Advisory Board meeting to give guidance on the future path of A4CR. For the benchmarking exercise, a few rounds of interviews and provision of information are to be expected.
While participation in this platform does not substitute for the mandatory ESG disclosure, the activities organized by A4CR will equip corporates with the right scientific knowledge and approach of reporting climate-related risks, thereby enhancing their preparedness to more rigorous climate-related company disclosures.
In the benchmarking exercise, each company’s ESG and climate-related performance will be benchmarked against its industry peers. Based on the findings of the benchmarking exercise corporates with outstanding performance will receive recognition (e.g., certificates, labelling etc) from the World Green Organisation.
Please note that the benchmarking exercise is not equivalent to a full climate risk assessment. It shall only serve as a reference for companies to understand the existing gaps and prioritise future actions to enhance corporate climate resilience.
Contact Us
If you have any enquiries, please feel free to contact us by email at : [email protected]
You can also contact us through the form below. We will reply within 3 working days in general.
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