Green transition 'on target' despite Covid

Although Covid might have slowed Hong Kong's green transition over the past three years, it has not materially hurt the city's interim and long-term decarbonization targets, said Merlin Lao Man-chi, head of policy and research at the Business Environment Council.

Many environmental, social and governance standards, regulatory requirements, or even blueprints were actually initiated during the pandemic, and the three-year period is relatively short in the whole decarbonization journey, Lao told The Standard.

The SAR has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050 with an interim target of reducing carbon emissions by half by 2035 from the 2005 level.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing's (0388) mandatory climate-related disclosure requirements for listed firms will have an immediate transparency effect on net zero, but it is up to enterprises to take mitigation actions, he noted.

The bourse is to mandate the disclosures next year with interim provisions for reports like financial effects of climate-related risks and opportunities and Scope 3 emissions that are associated with organizations and consumers in the value chain for the first two reporting years.

Lao felt that the two-year transition period was not enough for small and medium-sized enterprises, and suggested the government provide them with extra resources such as funding to help them kick off the disclosure process.

A total of 60 organizations have signed the newly rebranded BEC Net-zero Carbon Charter, and the figure is expected to reach over 100 in the next 12 months, Lao said.