International Experiences in Green Finance Development

55 Lessons Learned from the Leading Green Finance Centers for Hong Kong companies and large financial institutions that are most stressed in terms of physical risks. Then, the requirement may move to encourage more institutions to gradually improve relevant systems and join the framework of unified standards. Hong Kong has declared that it will adopt the CGT and issued the Prototype of a Green Classification Framework for Hong Kong (discussion paper). To further facilitate the implementation, an expert working group can be formed to help incorporate considerations such as Hong Kong’s own political and economic structure, and the green market demands. This framework tailored specifically to Hong Kong can use diversified methods to refine classifications based on different activities and time points, while paying attention to cross-market interoperability to ensure rapid development in sync with other taxonomies. 6.4 Talent: Establish an Integrated Network of Interdisciplinary Professionals, and Develop an Innovative Society The practical experience of Singapore, London and New York shows that in addition to the push by policy guidance, green transformation in financial centers should be supplemented by the improvement of internal understanding of green finance and specialization in subdivided fields. This requires the government to attract or coordinate organizations and experts in different sectors who understand and work in green finance so that they can become pioneers on the ground. At the same time, research institutions should collaborate across disciplines to form strategic alliances on different topics and link to various international networks. Innovative efforts across the spheres of policy, market and technology should be combined to meet the challenges in the development of green finance. Singapore has advanced awareness and demonstrates good organization in building a green finance talent system. Specifically, in terms of talent training, its Ministry of Education supports sustainable development education programs throughout the entire education stage from kindergarten, primary and secondary school as well as university. At the same time, colleges and universities actively offer professional courses and degree education programs based on the scale of employment. For example, the National University of Singapore Business School and the SGFIN jointly offer Asia’s first MSc program focused on the specialized disciplines of sustainable and green finance. This project began planning ten years ago and reported the relevant design to the Singapore Ministry of Education. It includes two key research directions: basic research on sustainable and green finance, and the application of sustainable finance. In terms of existing talent organizations, Singapore is committed to building strong strategic alliances among academics, policymakers and financial practitioners. For example, the CSFI at Nanyang Technological University follows a scientist-practitioner model to provide guidance in various forms to stakeholders and support the development of sustainable finance in Singapore. Furthermore, the government of Singapore believes that one of the biggest challenges in the current development of green finance is the data. It has invested to support the field of green finance innovation. For example, STACS, a Singapore government-backed fintech company, established the ESGpedia, a one-stop registry for ESG data and certification to help the financial sector and multiple industries achieve sustainable development. The ESGpedia is also collaborating with the MAS’s Greenprint project to innovate in the areas of data aggregation,