Hong Kong Green and Sustainable Debt Market Briefing 2021

The 2021 Hong Kong GSS+ market saw significant expansion, with USD 14bn in labelled debt from Hong Kong issuers and a quadruple increase in GSS+ debt arranged or issued in the city to USD 57bn. Growth was driven by the HKSAR Government's green bond programme and a diversifying issuer base, including real estate and financial corporates. The report highlights the emergence of transition finance and the adoption of the Common Ground Taxonomy to facilitate cross-border green finance between China and the EU.

• Hong Kong issuers released USD 14bn in GSS+ labelled debt in 2021, with green debt instruments aligned with the Climate Bonds Green Bond Database (GBDB) accounting for 75% of that total.
• The labelled green debt market for Hong Kong issuers grew 6.5 times year-on-year to USD 19bn in 2021, marking the highest growth in both absolute value and percentage since 2016.
• The HKSAR Government was a primary driver of green debt in 2021, issuing over USD 6bn across six deals, which represented 60% of the total green debt offering from Hong Kong.
• Using the HKMA methodology, the total GSS+ debt arranged and issued in Hong Kong quadrupled year-on-year to USD 57bn in 2021, consisting of USD 31.3bn in bonds and USD 25.4bn in loans.
• The use of proceeds for green bonds in 2021 were most heavily allocated to Buildings (29%), followed by Energy (17%) and Transport (15%).
• Hong Kong is implementing a green classification framework aligned with the Common Ground Taxonomy (CGT) to improve interoperability between the EU and China's taxonomies and facilitate cross-border green finance.
• Transition finance is growing in Hong Kong through instruments like transition bonds, sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs), and sustainability-linked loans (SLLs), with SLB offerings from Hong Kong issuers growing 3.4 times year-on-year to USD 0.9bn in 2021.

APA

Deng, M., & MacGeoch, M. (2022). Hong Kong Green and Sustainable Debt Market Briefing 2021. Climate Bonds Initiative. https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Hong-Kong-Green-and-Sustainable-Debt-Market-Briefing-2021_2025-02-17-162942_ipqp.pdf

Chicago

Deng, Manshu, and Matthew MacGeoch. Hong Kong Green and Sustainable Debt Market Briefing 2021. Climate Bonds Initiative, 2022. https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Hong-Kong-Green-and-Sustainable-Debt-Market-Briefing-2021_2025-02-17-162942_ipqp.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Deng |first1=Manshu |last2=MacGeoch |first2=Matthew |title=Hong Kong Green and Sustainable Debt Market Briefing 2021 |publisher=Climate Bonds Initiative |date=July 2022 |url=https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Hong-Kong-Green-and-Sustainable-Debt-Market-Briefing-2021_2025-02-17-162942_ipqp.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{deng2022hong, author = {Deng, Manshu and MacGeoch, Matthew}, title = {{Hong Kong Green and Sustainable Debt Market Briefing 2021}}, institution = {Climate Bonds Initiative}, year = {2022}, month = jul, url = {https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Hong-Kong-Green-and-Sustainable-Debt-Market-Briefing-2021_2025-02-17-162942_ipqp.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }