A University of Hong Kong Capstone Project
A Quick History
The Beginning of Green Finance
Though green bonds have been issued for over a decade, green finance has caught the public’s attention within the past few years (World Bank, 2019). At the G20 summit held during September 2016, world leaders acknowledged that “in order to support environmentally sustainable growth globally, it is necessary to scale up green financing” (GGFC, 2017). Within the well-known Paris agreement two months later, countries pledged to limit “global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius preindustrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees” (GGFC, 2017). Reducing global warming would require reducing GHG emissions, which for many countries involved large capital investments into renewable energy (GGFC, 2017).
To learn more about the history of green finance, please visit the Global Sustainable Finance Council (GSFC)’s Global and European Green Finance Policy Directory.
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The GSFC, originally known as the Global Green Finance Council, is an assembly of “financial sector trade associations [who] aim to coordinate and cross-fertilize green finance initiatives” (EBF, 2017, ICMA, 2021). Its notable members include the EBF (European Banking Federation), GFMA (Global Financial Markets Association), ICMA (International Capital Market Association) and WFE (World Federation of Exchanges) (EBF, 2017).
Green Finance Glossary
If you are familiar with personal finance terminology, you’ll likely see many similarities with green finance terms.
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The Hong Kong Green Finance Association (HKGFA) has created a periodically-updated glossary of common terms in green finance (HKGFA, 2020). To learn more about the HKGFA, visit our Green Finance Organisations page.
The Socially Responsible Investor
Which stage are you at now?
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Where do you want to go?
References
EBF 2017. Global Green Finance Council & EBF support EC High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance. London/Brussels: European Banking Federation.
GGFC 2017. Global and European Green Finance Policy Directory. Global Financial Markets Association.
HKGFA 2020. Green Finance: A Glossary of Key Terms. Hong Kong Green Finance Association.
ICMA. 2021. Global Sustainable Finance Council (GSFC) [Online]. International Capital Markets Association. Available: https://www.icmagroup.org/sustainable-finance/global-sustainable-finance-council-gsfc/ [Accessed 29 January 2021].
WORLD BANK. 2019. 10 Years of Green Bonds: Creating the Blueprint for Sustainability Across Capital Markets [Online]. World Bank. Available: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/immersive-story/2019/03/18/10-years-of-green-bonds-creating-the-blueprint-for-sustainability-across-capital-markets [Accessed 29 January 2021].