All over the world, economies are hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. How can governments restart their economies while mitigating the challenges posed by climate change?

From the European Union to the US, "green recovery" is gaining widespread support from the private sector to academia. Essentially, green recovery is a package of environmental, regulatory, and fiscal reforms to help countries recover from the pandemic while achieving environmental sustainability.

This means investing government stimulus packages in climate mitigation strategies, such as investing in low-carbon economic activities to provide job creation and labour reskilling opportunities.

In Hong Kong, the government is looking to to expand the scale of the Government Green Bond Programme and arrange for the regular issuance of green bonds totalling HK$175.5 billion within the next five years. It is also hoping to launch the Green and Sustainable Finance Grant Scheme to provide subsidy for eligible entities to cover their expenses on bond issuance and external review services, in its push to position Hong Kong as a green finance hub in the region. In case you have not heard of the Green Tech Fund, it is a HK$200 million initiative aimed at focusing funding support on research and development projects related to decarbonisation and environmental protection.

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