Green Finance Adoption

Overview

In June 2020, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the UAE's largest bank, successfully issued a landmark HKD750 million five-year Green Bond, the first Green Bond in HKD by an offshore financial institution. This was followed by a Hong Kong branch of China Construction Bank (CCB) which listed two green bonds of USD700 million US dollars and USD500 million on Nasdaq Dubai in August the same year. These transactions are testament to the growing interest in green financing.
 
Hong Kong and Dubai, being the significant green finance hubs in Asia and the Middle East, have launched schemes and guidelines in support of development of green and sustainable financing. In May 2021 Hong Kong launched a new Green and Sustainable Finance Grant Scheme to further enrich the green and sustainable finance ecosystem in Hong Kong. The Dubai Sustainable Finance Working Group has also recently published two comprehensive guides on the expansion of sustainable finance in the UAE and wider region, further demonstrating commitment to the cause.
 
Join the DIFC and Hong Kong Green Finance Association in collaboration with Simmons & Simmons to learn more about the development and trends of green financing in Asia and the Middle East. 

The panellists will cover the following:

• How do financial centres, in particular Hong Kong and Dubai, collaborate in order to encourage green financing?
• Comparison of the developments and policies of green financing between Hong Kong and Dubai
• How does green finance development make impacts to private wealth clients in Hong Kong and Dubai?

Agenda

11:00am - 11:05am: Welcome Remarks, Ali Hassan, Senior Representative Europe & North America, DIFC Authority
11:05am - 11:45am: Panel Discussion moderated by Ali Hassan, Senior Representative Europe & North America, DIFC Authority
Panellists: 

• Jolyon Ellwood-Russell, Partner, Simmons & Simmons Hong Kong
• Jay Lee, Partner, Simmons & Simmons Hong Kong
• Lee Irvine, Partner, Simmons & Simmons Dubai
• Stephen Wong, Senior Vice President & Executive Director of Public Policy Institute, Our Hong Kong Foundation; Vice President and Policy Research and Dissemination Working Group Co-chair, Hong Kong Green Finance Association

11:45am – 12:00pm: Q&A

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