HKMA and IFC Launch New Alliance to Address Climate Change
HKMA signed a new partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, to encourage commercial banks in Asia to adopt strategies and targets to become greener. As the founding member and the first regional anchor for the Asia Chapter of the Alliance for Green Commercial Banks, HKMA will serve as the hub for green finance among commercial banks in Asia. Under the agreement, over the next five years, HKMA and IFC will bring together financial institutions, banking industry associations, research institutions, and innovative technology providers from across Asia to develop, build, and boost the capacity for green finance and promote climate investments. The signing of the agreement makes HKMA the first partner to work with IFC on the initiative.
HKMA and IFC will jointly launch targeted initiatives and campaigns in the region to undertake green finance research, provide unique market insight, tailor capacity building or training support, and provide practical guidance for banks to develop their own roadmap to mainstream green finance as their core business and revamp the existing green financial products and services. The Alliance for Green Commercial Banks is a global initiative to bring together financial institutions, banking industry associations, research institutions, and innovative technology providers to work together to develop a community of green commercial banks across emerging markets and finance the infrastructure and business solutions needed to urgently address climate change. The Alliance will connect ambitious institutions that are committed to the urgency and excellence in green finance to address the world’s most pressing challenges by:
- Promoting the development of Green Commercial Banks in the global financial market
- Serving as a peer-to-peer learning platform for commercial banks to acquire knowledge, tools, and business information to develop their green finance roadmaps and transform their institutions into credible green banks
- Helping members of the Alliance to collaborate and take advantage of the estimated $29 trillion in green and climate-related investment opportunities identified by IFC across emerging markets
- Facilitating dialog and providing thought leadership to advance the green finance agenda globally
Keywords: Asia Pacific, Hong Kong, Banking, Climate Change Risk, IFC, Alliance for Green Commercial Banks, ESG, HKMA
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