ASEAN will take a bigger role at Eco Expo Asia 2026, with the first dedicated ASEAN Pavilion and first-time participation from Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Eco Expo Asia 2026 will be held from October 26 to 29 at AsiaWorld-Expo. It is jointly organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd, a company that organizes trade fairs, and co-organized by the Environment and Ecology Bureau.
Around 200 senior officials and semi-official representatives from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Belt and Road countries and ASEAN will attend the event.
Under the theme “Connecting the World for a Sustainable Future,” the expo will gather more than 340 exhibitors from 16 countries and regions and 18 pavilions, focusing on green technologies and solutions.
This year marks several firsts. The new Asean Pavilion will feature 13 green technology companies from eight member countries, while Qinghai Province will also make its debut with a dedicated pavilion, alongside nine other Chinese mainland cities.
At the press conference on Thursday, Vanessa Au Sze-man, deputy director of the Environmental Protection Department, said the expo dovetails with the First Five-Year Plan and its efforts to advance the city’s green transformation.
She highlighted that during the expo, the Environment and Ecology Bureau and China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment will co-host the Belt and Road Green Innovation Conference in Hong Kong for the first time.
The EPD will also partner with the Belt and Road Initiative International Green Development Coalition and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to organize the second “Green Silk Road” International Training Program. The program's last edition invited environmental officials from Belt and Road nations to attend events including seminars and visits to green facilities in Hong Kong and the mainland.
HKTDC associate executive director Silas Chu Yiu-cheong said green transformation is no longer just a policy aspiration but a market rule. China, the EU and many ASEAN economies are pursuing carbon-neutrality or net-zero targets and driving decarbonization through regulations and industrial policies.
The HKTDC also released the “HKTDC ESG Index 2026,” which rose to 67.3 from 64.2 last year, well above the neutral threshold of 50. The survey showed that 93 percent of respondents have integrated ESG into their overall business decision-making processes, while the share of businesses sourcing or selling ESG-related products and services increased from 29 percent in 2025 to 46 percent in 2026.
The expo will focus on four thematic areas – Green Energy in Motion, Frontier Green Tech, Building for a Greener City, and From Waste to Worth – highlighting technologies ranging from sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, to AI-powered recycling.
A first-time exhibitor, SAF producer EcoCeres will showcase renewable SAF and hydrotreated vegetable oil made from waste materials.
Meanwhile, Stellerus Technology – an artificial intelligence meteorological tech company – will display its Multi-Spectral Imaging Carbon Observatory, a greenhouse gas-monitoring instrument, which has been deployed on China’s Tiangong space station.
Sustainable solutions provider Green Vigor will present a modular hydropower system that converts wasted hydraulic resources from water tanks and cooling systems into electricity.
