I am delighted that the United Nations Climate Finance Conference is being held in Hong Kong. A very warm welcome to all the participants, and I trust that you will have an interesting and insightful event.

Hong Kong is Asia’s premier international financial centre and a regional hub for green finance. One of the Government’s major initiatives is the establishment of a government green bond programme with a borrowing ceiling of US$12.8bn. This will finance projects with environmental benefits under our public works programme. In addition, the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency operates a green finance certification scheme for both bonds and funds. The Government has also launched a Green Bond Grant Scheme and a Pilot Bond Grant Scheme that provide subsidies to attract more bond issuance in Hong Kong.

In 2018, around US$11bn worth of green bonds was issued in Hong Kong. Issuers included entities from Hong Kong, Mainland China and abroad, as well as multilateral development banks such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the European Investment Bank. We are confident that this momentum will continue and multiply, helping to make our world a greener one.

James Lau is the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

It is a pleasure to organize the Climate Finance and Sustainable Investing Conference in collaboration with World Green Organisation, with support from Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Financial Services Development Council. Initiatives like this are key in building a more inclusive and prosperous Asia-Pacific by 2030.

As the leading intergovernmental agency in the region, ESCAP is highly devoted to strengthening partnerships for development. Through the Infrastructure Financing and PPP Network of Asia and the Pacific, we seek to pr omote South-South cooperation towards the development of infrastructure that is both reliable and resilient, especially in the face of climate change. We also conducted the Climate Survey of financial institutions and are committed to improving member-States’ capacity in issuing green and blue bonds. Moreover, we are committed to increasingly leverage private finance to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, as public investment alone will not suffice.

This conference occurs at time when the impact of climate change is no longer a threat, but a worrying reality. I hope that this event will mark the beginning of a strong and lasting partnership with Hong Kong in promoting climate finance and sustainable investment.

Tientip Subhanij is the Chief of Financing for Development at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, based in Bangkok (Thailand).

We are the first generation of high civilization to witness the effects of climate disaster. We could also be the last to solve the largest crisis facing humanity through financial instruments, technologies, regulatory policies, and determination from both public and private contributions.

This could be the largest Climate Finance Conference that has ever been organized in Hong Kong by an NGO in partnership with the United Nations. It is our great honor to benefit from the unreserved support from UNESCAP. It is also our pleasure to receive the generous support from Hong Kong Exchange and Clearings Ltd and the Financial Services Development Council.

With more than 40 international and local renowned speakers, the UN Conference fosters comprehensive dialogue among government officials, industry practitioners, scholars and NGOs to accelerate the paradigm shift in the sustainable investment. More importantly, this conference also aims at facilitating changes in the decision making processes among investors and asset managers towards ESG investing. Through this established platform coupled with the network of the United Nations, extensive collaborations between institutional and private investors and project proponents are able to effectively engage amongst critical stakeholders towards the development of best practices for the development of Green Finance and Sustainable Investment.

Regardless of your priorities and your risk-return profile, be it value-motivated or values-motivated investors, we are reminded by the scientists that we only have 10 years to prevent the irreversible consequences of climate disasters. Today we stand at the cusp of making a decision to invest for ourselves and future generations for a better and sustainable future.