【ESG News】Global Trends Biweekly Newsletter Issue 42 (2025.9.8-2025.9.21)

Hong Kong ESG trends

HKEX Launches Carbon Credits: A Buyer’s Guide

On 10 September 2025, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) hosted the Climate Finance Forum, steering the industry to explore how climate finance can deploy capital and accelerate the net-zero transition. At the forum HKEX also released the “Carbon Credits: A Buyer’s Guide”, offering companies a systematic roadmap to the mechanics, purchasing rationale and selection criteria of carbon credits so they can engage effectively in carbon markets and embed them in their sustainability strategies.

Source: https://www.hkex.com.hk/News/News-Release/2025/250910news?sc_lang=en

Lianhe Green Insights

As the carbon credit market is still in its initial development stage, many enterprises are still exploring its concepts and operational methods. In this context, the introduction of regulatory guidelines provides a clear best practice framework for the market. However, the true implementation of carbon credits requires balancing market supply and demand, combining with the operational characteristics of enterprises and the development stages of different countries, and gradually exploring suitable paths to promote the comprehensive development of the carbon credit market.

 

HKMA hosts 2025 Green Fintech Symposium

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers co-hosted the 2025 Green Fintech Symposium and announced the results of the 2025 Green Fintech Competition on12 September. The Symposium received an overwhelming response, attracting near 500 in-person and online participants from banks, investment firms, corporates, technology firms, regulatory authorities, and academia to discuss the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities in green fintech.

In his opening remarks, Mr Eddie Yue, Chief Executive of the HKMA, underscored the importance of innovation in sustainability and the crucial role that green fintech plays in addressing pressing sustainability challenges.  “We must forge partnerships across finance, technology, regulation, and businesses to effectively confront the complex, interconnected challenges posed by global climate change,” he stated.

Source: https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/news-and-media/press-releases/2025/09/20250912-3/

Lianhe Green Insights

Rooted in the convergence of green finance and technology, this workshop pooled multi-disciplinary resources and used a competition to spark innovative solutions: entries from 26 regions exceeded 140, underscoring its global reach. As green finance and tech deepen their integration, new greentech products are emerging rapidly. Lianhe Green will zero in on this space, helping novel products win market recognition and steering the nascent sector toward sound standards.

 

Keynote at CASI Sustainability Forum: Building Capacity for Developing Transition Finance Ecosystems in Asia

At the CASI Sustainability Forum, HKMA Deputy Chief Executive Arthur Yuen delivered a keynote, stressing Asia’s pivotal role in global decarbonisation: the region emits over half of the world’s greenhouse gases and emerging economies remain heavily reliant on fossil fuels, leaving a vast climate-investment gap. Developing a transition-finance ecosystem is therefore critical, yet such finance still accounts for only a small share of the sustainable-finance market.

Arthur Yuen outlined HKMA’s initiatives to nurture this ecosystem: publishing the Sustainable Finance Action Agenda; advancing Hong Kong’s green taxonomy— releasing Phase 1 and consulting on Phase 2A which adds transition and climate-adaptation objectives; helping banks draw up transition plans through policy guidance, good-practice notes and revised guidelines; promoting climate and sustainability disclosures by aligning with ISSB standards and the Basel disclosure framework; and stepping up capacity-building via government pilot schemes and a new professional-development module. While progress has been made, skill shortages and a deeper understanding of emerging-market needs remain.

He concluded that HKMA is confident Hong Kong can catalyse Asia’s transition and will continue to partner with like-minded institutions.

Source: https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/news-and-media/speeches/2025/09/20250912-1/

Lianhe Green Insights

As transition finance gains urgency, Asia’s emerging and developing economies—facing the twin challenge of growth and decarbonization—represent a vast, still-untapped market. Against a backdrop of accelerating climate change, physical and transition risks are hitting companies and financial institutions hard. Lianhe Green, an external reviewer accredited under the HKMA Sustainable Finance Grant Scheme, assesses and certifies corporates’ financing needs and project viability as they shift from carbon-intensive to low-carbon business models, channeling capital to credible transition projects and powering the region’s green economic transformation.

International ESG trends

 

Mainland China ESG trends

MOF Releases Application Guidance for the Interim Basic Sustainable Disclosure Standard for Enterprises

The Application Guide provides explanations on eight aspects: value chain, information correlation, users of sustainable information, materiality assessment, principle of proportionality, current and expected financial impacts of continuous risks and opportunities, resilience of the enterprise's strategy and business model to sustainable risks, and disclosure of sustainable impact information. It clarifies that before the scope and requirements for implementation are stipulated, enterprises shall implement them on a voluntary basis.

Source: https://kjs.mof.gov.cn/zhengcefabu/202509/t20250912_3972190.htm

Lianhe Green Insights

The release of the Application Guide represents a refined upgrade of China's sustainable disclosure system, marking a practical leap from framework construction to comprehensive implementation. It is worth noting that before the official implementation scope and requirements are clarified, the Guide is temporarily implemented on a voluntary basis. United Green recommends that enterprises seize the policy orientation as soon as possible, proactively integrate sustainable management into their strategies and operations, and enhance the quality of information disclosure and resilience governance capabilities.

 

The 3rd Symposium on New Pollutants Governance Successfully Held in Shanghai

On September 13, the 3rd Symposium on New Pollutants Governance was successfully convened in Shanghai.

The conference emphasized the need to conduct in-depth research around the objectives, tasks, and needs of new pollutants governance to provide strong support for related work. First, it is necessary to anchor the major reform deployment of supporting the establishment of a collaborative governance and environmental risk management system for new pollutants by 2029, and provide high-level policy suggestions with overall and forward-looking perspectives for the top-level design, strategic planning, legal construction, and guarantee mechanisms of new pollutants governance. Second, it is necessary to anchor the major task deployment of effectively controlling environmental risks from new pollutants by 2035, strengthen basic research and scientific and technological innovation, and provide scientific, precise, and economically feasible high-level research achievements. With the "hardcore" power of scientific and technological innovation, it will help solve the "stuck-neck" technical problems in new pollutants governance.

Source: https://www.mee.gov.cn/xxgk/hjyw/202509/t20250913_1127367.shtml

Lianhe Green Insights

This measure reflects the strong support of finance for the development of forestry. By innovating forest tenure mortgage loans and optimizing the mechanisms for forest tenure valuation and transfer, it promotes the coordinated development of the forestry industry and ecological construction. It also helps to achieve the “dual carbon” goals, promotes high-quality development of forestry, and provides new impetus for rural revitalization and the construction of ecological civilization.

 

Arc'teryx's Collaboration with Cai Guoqiang on Fireworks Show in Himalayas Sparks Controversy

On September 19, outdoor brand Arc'teryx collaborated with artist Cai Guoqiang to stage a fireworks show in the Himalayas. Videos of the event released online quickly triggered widespread environmental concerns among netizens and outdoor enthusiasts.

On September 20, after the video of Cai Guoqiang: Rising Dragon fireworks show went viral, the municipal committee and government of Shigatse attached great importance to the issue, forming an investigation team to rush to the scene for verification at the first opportunity. Follow-up handling will be carried out in accordance with laws and regulations based on the investigation results.

In the morning of September 21, both Arc'teryx and Cai Guoqiang issued letters of apology.

On September 22, Anta Sports, a major investor in Amer Sports (the parent company of Arc'teryx), saw its stock price plummet by over 4% due to the incident.

Source: https://finance.sina.com.cn/wm/2025-09-22/doc-infriqvv3786140.shtml

Lianhe Green Insights

The fermentation of this incident highlights the importance of ESG risk management for enterprises. ESG risk management is by no means a slogan, but must be deeply integrated into strategic decision-making and operational details. Overlooking potential environmental risks and public emotions can easily trigger trust crises, ultimately affecting commercial value and damaging brand images.