In the last of a four-part series, Eric Ng and Martin Choi look at efforts to ignite a local hydrogen economy in Hong Kong.

The partnerships with 11 firms in sectors ranging from AI to new energy vehicles will help the city’s efforts to become an innovation and technology hub, minister says.

Plans are afoot to commercially produce solar-powered freezer lorries in the city for the first time, in a move to help reduce the carbon footprint of a sector responsible for a fifth of the city’s emissions.

With the number of senior citizens in Hong Kong set to double by 2046, an open, transparent process to decide on retention can benefit both employees and employers, according to a Hong Kong Chartered Governance Institute report.

Israeli alternative protein start-up Forsea aims to bring its cell-based eel unagi to Japan and other Asia-Pacific markets including China and Hong Kong to provide a more sustainable version of an enormously popular dish.

The Hong Kong and China Gas Company (Towngas) has teamed up with the French water, waste and energy group Veolia to launch the city’s first green hydrogen project, which will convert biogas from a landfill site into a sustainable fuel.

The availability of financial support and engagement with stakeholders are the top decarbonisation challenges faced by Hong Kong firms, according to signatories to the Business Environment Council’s net-zero carbon charter.

The distributor of brands including SAIC Maxus, Toyota, Lexus, Land Rover and Jaguar plugs in its first public charging station as EV sales surge amid a relative lack of public charging infrastructure.

Beijing to slash emissions from four carbon-intensive industries – steel, oil refining, ammonia and cement – by 84 million tonnes by the end of next year, NDRC said.

ESG practitioners will be trained to integrate big data analysis in financial decision-making in the jointly managed programme.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is considering making its green taxonomy framework mandatory for the banking sector to support the development of sustainable financing in the city.

The increase in tariffs ‘will be reasonable, and it will not be a double-digit increase’, managing director Peter Wong says. Towngas last raised its basic tariff by 4.4 per cent in August 2022.

Supply will not satisfy the demand from occupiers aiming for 100 per cent green-certified portfolios by 2030, research says.

The Chinese state-owned carmaker said it plans to intensify its push into Hong Kong’s electric vehicle market by setting itself an ambitious target of 4,000 sales in the city by the end of this year.

A new certification course will be launched in Hong Kong in July, focusing on the ESG requirements of bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing to ensure the quality of local practitioners.

The Hong Kong Green Building Council and Beam Society have launched a global certification to promote sustainable construction, as practitioners seek opportunities overseas and look to strengthen the city’s green credentials.

Code will be ‘vital in fostering greater transparency, quality and reliability of ESG information, as well as comparability of products’, says SFC head Julia Leung.

Environmental sustainability is a leading concern for the younger generation, and they have been pushing businesses to take more action on climate change, according to a Deloitte survey.

The world’s largest double-decker bus maker, Alexander Dennis, said electrification is the future for Hong Kong’s bus fleet and hopes to roll out more battery-powered models for the city to meet its decarbonisation goals.

The French firm has set a target of selling 15,000 EV chargers by 2026, a fivefold increase from the nearly 3,300 units it has installed in the city, senior executive Travis Kan says.

Insurer has sold about 5.6 million HSBC shares, reducing its stake in the lender to 7.98 per cent from 8.01 per cent, according to an exchange filing.

Hong Kong-based financial service platform Gome Finance Technology marks diversification by acquiring Chinese game developer and publisher CashBox Group Technology which will help treble its revenues.

Fintech company Stacs and ESG consulting firm Downundered are among those offering tools for SMEs to measure emissions.

Sustainable packaging firms have seen an increase in business as the recent ban on disposable plastic takeaway containers pushes the city’s food and drink companies to opt for environmentally-friendly alternatives.

City must encourage retrofitting or replacement of old ‘carbon-hog’ buildings and accelerate adoption of construction materials with lower ‘embodied’ carbon, says World Green Building Council founder David Gottfried.

Hong Kong can do more to help finance the transition of high-emitting sectors and heavy-polluting industries to more sustainable business activities as a hub for the region, Financial Secretary Paul Chan says.

The ISSB, a sustainability-reporting standard-setting body, will vote this week to add biodiversity-related disclosures to its work plan, paving the way for such standards to become the global baseline.

Hong Kong’s representatives to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation business advisory council plan to use the platform to showcase the city as more than just a finance hub.

All financial institutions licensed by the SFC should be required to submit ESG reports for the development of a comprehensive ecosystem of sustainability disclosures, City University of Hong Kong says.

The global drinks giant said all 500ml bottles for Coca-Cola Original, Coca-Cola No Sugar and Coca-Cola Plus in Hong Kong have shifted to recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET), the first such use of the material in China.