The Green and Sustainable Finance Cross-Agency Steering Group in Hong Kong has agreed a new set of priorities for 2026 to 2028, setting out the next phase of work on climate- and sustainability-related finance that will affect banks, insurers, and other financial institutions. At its 12th meeting on Jan. 29, the Steering Group endorsed a three-year plan organised around two main pillars: reinforcing Hong Kong’s role as a sustainable finance centre and expanding activity in transition and adaptation finance. The agenda follows the group’s 2023–2025 strategy and its 2025 work program.
Under the first pillar, the Steering Group plans to further develop the sustainability disclosure ecosystem. This includes work on sustainability assurance, support for transition plan reporting, and the use of technology in data collection and disclosure. Other strands include measures to expand sustainable finance markets by facilitating capital flows through Hong Kong and stepping up cross‑border collaboration on carbon markets, as well as continued participation in international policy forums and industry events. Talent initiatives will focus on building sustainability-related skills across the financial sector.
Julia Leung, co-chair of the Steering Group and chief executive officer of the Securities and Futures Commission, said the refreshed agenda is intended to keep Hong Kong in step with international expectations. “These updated priorities underscore our ongoing commitment to ensuring Hong Kong remains globally aligned, forward looking, and responsive to market needs. Enhancing disclosures and scaling transition finance are essential to supporting credible outcomes, transparent, and science based pathways across the financial system,” Leung said.
The second pillar concentrates on transition finance and adaptation finance, two areas that intersect with insurers’ investment, underwriting, and risk management activities. For transition finance, the Steering Group plans to issue practical materials and examples to help financial institutions design and implement transition plans. Planned outputs include guidance, tools, and case studies intended to support wider adoption of transition planning across sectors.
On adaptation finance, the group will focus on market readiness, identifying capability gaps, and facilitating the development of products and structures that address physical climate risks. Strengthening physical risk assessment capacity forms part of this work, with potential implications for catastrophe modelling, pricing, coverage design, and portfolio risk evaluation for insurers operating in Asia. Eddie Yue, co-chair of the Steering Group and chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, linked the priorities to regional transition trends. “Hong Kong’s sustainable finance market has witnessed significant development in the past few years. The 2026–28 priorities will reinforce our groundwork for building a robust sustainable finance ecosystem, while positioning Hong Kong to capture the emerging opportunities in Asia’s transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy,” Yue said.
The Steering Group reviewed progress on the Roadmap on Sustainability Disclosure in Hong Kong, launched by the Hong Kong SAR Government in December 2024. The roadmap sets out how large publicly accountable entities in Hong Kong are expected to move toward full adoption of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards by 2028. Members noted continuing work on a sustainability assurance framework as part of the disclosure infrastructure. The Accounting and Financial Reporting Council’s consultation, issued on Dec. 29, 2025, on a proposed regulatory framework for sustainability assurance is a key step toward defining how sustainability information will be assured and supervised.
The Steering Group also reported measures aimed at positioning Hong Kong as a centre for sustainable and transition finance. A key component is the Hong Kong Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance. Phase 2A of the taxonomy, published by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority on Jan. 22, 2026, expanded coverage to six sectors, increased the number of economic activities from 12 to 25, introduced transition-related elements, and added an environmental objective on climate change adaptation. For insurers, the taxonomy is likely to be used as a reference for investment mandates, product classification, and climate-related disclosures, especially where local regulatory expectations point to taxonomy‑aligned activities.
The 2026–2028 strategy is intended to remain consistent with the Steering Group’s 2025 priorities in three areas: disclosure, hub development, and technology. First, the group worked to establish what it described as a comprehensive sustainability disclosure ecosystem to support the use of ISSB-based standards. This included providing technical assistance on sustainability reporting, advancing work on a sustainability assurance framework, and delivering training initiatives with industry bodies.
Second, the Steering Group took steps to strengthen Hong Kong’s role as a sustainable and transition finance hub. Its work covered further expansion of the Hong Kong Taxonomy to capture additional transition activities, development of sector‑specific operational guidance for transition finance, and the launch of a Transition Finance Knowledge Hub on its website. The group also maintained engagement on regional carbon market initiatives and capacity building following global climate negotiations.
Third, the Steering Group placed greater emphasis on data and technology. It developed an official Hong Kong Green Fintech Map, released in the first half of 2025, which lists technology providers working on sustainable finance and related data solutions. Public tools on the Steering Group’s website, such as greenhouse gas emissions calculation and estimation tools and the Climate and Environmental Risk Questionnaire for non‑listed companies and small and medium-sized enterprises, were further updated to support reporting and risk assessment.
The Steering Group, set up in May 2020 and co‑chaired by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Securities and Futures Commission, includes the Insurance Authority among its members alongside other financial regulators and government departments. For insurance professionals, the direction set for 2026–2028 points to continued development of requirements and expectations around climate- and sustainability-related disclosure, assurance, taxonomy use, and transition planning. The resulting frameworks are expected to influence how insurers allocate capital, structure sustainable, or transition‑linked products, and assess both physical and transition risks in portfolios with exposure to Hong Kong and wider Asian markets.
