Hong Kong regulators and financial authorities have released one of the region’s first sector-specific operational guides for transition finance, as Asian financial centres race to channel more private capital into corporate decarbonisation while addressing concerns over greenwashing and fragmented disclosure standards.
The Hong Kong Green and Sustainable Finance Cross-Agency Steering Group welcomed the publication of the Transition Finance Operational Reference Guide – Phase 1 Report: Mobilising Finance for the Transition of the Technology Sector, which focuses on information and communications technology companies.
The guide, developed by an industry working group under the steering group’s transition finance workstream, aims to help financial institutions and corporates apply international transition finance principles in practical financing and investment decisions.
Transition finance has become a growing focus for Asian regulators, banks and development finance institutions as economies across the region face mounting pressure to decarbonise industries, technology infrastructure and supply chains while sustaining growth.
The first phase of the report focuses on entity-level financing and investment.
It explores how lenders and investors can assess a company’s broader climate-transition strategy through general corporate-purpose financing, rather than limiting assessments to individual green projects.
Hong Kong selected the ICT sector as a pilot area for the guidance, reflecting rising scrutiny of emissions linked to digital infrastructure, including data centres, cloud computing and artificial intelligence-related electricity demand.
The report identifies a set of transition-related metrics and disclosures considered material for the ICT sector, which regulators said could help financial institutions assess transition credibility and financing needs.
It also includes case studies intended to address implementation challenges faced by market participants when applying global transition finance principles in real-world financing transactions.
The steering group said future phases of the work would cover activity-level financing and investment, as well as stewardship and engagement practices.
HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue said the report demonstrated the industry’s efforts to develop practical approaches to transition finance and urged market participants to use the guide to help scale climate-transition funding.
SFC Chief Executive Julia Leung said the reference guide was intended to translate high-level international principles into actionable guidance, improve disclosures and support more efficient capital allocation.
The steering group, established in 2020 and co-chaired by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Securities and Futures Commission, coordinates Hong Kong’s efforts to expand green and sustainable finance and align the financial sector with the city’s climate objectives.