EVENTS
Event Highlights
“Green Silk Road”: Carbon Trading Opportunities in China & Hong Kong and the Implication of EU ETS
2024-03-01
The ‘“Green Silk Road”: Carbon Trading Opportunities in China & Hong Kong and the Implication of EU ETS’ seminar organized by Maritime Silk Road Society was held on 1 March. Mr Jeff Huang, Founder and CEO of AEX Holdings Ltd, was the speaker and participants were from a diverse range of sectors including finance, shipping, legal, media, as well as students. The audience had lively conversations with the speaker during the seminar that led to an entertaining and very informative event.
Mr Huang introduced the concept of efficient carbon pricing and highlighted the importance of developing forward curves to help market participants hedge against the price volatility of carbon. He then compared the more developed Emission Trading Systems (ETS) in the European Union (EU) with China’s to demonstrate the gap between the two markets. While the gap is wide, Mr. Huang is confident that China can close it quickly with Hong Kong’s help in developing a neutral carbon futures exchange, attracting international players, establishing a clear regulatory environment, and updating the accounting best practices (mark-to-market). If the Hong Kong community is able to achieve these conditions then we will have a liquid market built on international best practices and give Chinese market participants the tools they need to manage their decarbonization journey.
Mr Huang also emphasized the importance of carbon standards and the role that Hong Kong can play in harmonizing China’s renewable energy sector with international best practices for Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). He suggests that Hong Kong is an ideal place for a neutral, non-profit, l REC registry that leverages the latest technology and best practices from international NGOs like RE100. With this neutral registry in Hong Kong, Chinese originated renewable projects will have a door to access international investors that require a certain level of data transparency & tackability, and vice versa power. At the end of his presentation, he noted that future trends in REC markets necessitate the need for an independent, not-for-profit, and neutral REC registry and the opportunity Hong Kong has in building the first on if its kind in Asia.
