Hong Kong to host international sustainability summit as platform for companies to move beyond ‘empty talk’ on net zero

Hong Kong will be hosting an international sustainability summit this month to provide a platform for corporate leaders around the world to share their progress on reaching their climate goals as well as exchange best practices to achieve net-zero emissions.

Set to take place on March 25, the inaugural One Earth Summit will aim to establish an alliance between sustainability leaders across multiple sectors towards achieving the net-zero transition, according to Poman Lo, founder of the non-profit Institute of Sustainability and Technology (IST), one of the organisers of the event.

“We call it One Earth Summit because it is all about uniting forces, and Hong Kong is the best strategic bridge between the east and the west,” Lo said. “We are in the best position to bring the world back together, and to transcend above all these cultural boundaries and divisions, to together fight this war against climate change.”

The event will not be a one-off, but rather “a milestone event of the alliance that we are trying to build”, which will unite “the most prominent” investors, family offices, philanthropists and business leaders in a collective pledge of support towards the net-zero transition, Lo said.

She added that the organisers plan to host the summit annually.

“We don’t want people just openly and very publicly announcing ambitious targets,” she said. “We also want to encourage accountability, so that each year the participants and business leaders will not just pledge these targets but also share a solid concrete pathway to net zero.”

This means participants will have to track and monitor their progress, and also openly and transparently report on their results annually, Lo said. The location of the summit will be based on where it can drive the most impact, she said.

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In addition to IST, the non-profit organisation sponsored by property and hotel operator Century City Group, the summit organisers are the World Economic Forum’s Giving to Amplify Earth Action initiative, which aims to grow public, private and philanthropic partnerships to fund the US$3 trillion of financing needed annually for climate and nature solutions; the Hong Kong government’s Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau; and InvestHK, the government unit responsible for attracting foreign direct investment.

“We are extremely committed to developing Hong Kong into a leading green and sustainable financial centre, and also a green fintech hub as well,” said Undersecretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Joseph Chan Ho-lim.

“We are always the conduit between the east and the west, so it’s a great occasion that we can hold the One Earth Summit here in Hong Kong. This summit will help strengthen our role as the leading green and sustainable financing centre in Asia.”

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“The Hong Kong government will continue to use different measures and different events to promote sustainability, to contribute to the green transformation of the economy globally, as well as to achieve our own goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050, and also contributing to our country’s carbon neutrality goal by 2060 as well,” said Chan. “It’s a long journey, and we will keep pushing.”

The One Earth Summit will bring together 500 individuals, including representatives from national and subnational governments, senior executives from the private sector, and philanthropic organisations, to foster impactful dialogue and generate actionable solutions to address climate change and nature loss, according to its website. Attendance will be by invitation only.

The summit will focus on five key themes that are crucial to addressing the climate and nature crisis: water and nature-based solutions, infrastructure and urban development, food and agriculture, energy transition, and materials and industrial decarbonisation, said IST’s Lo.

“It’s a global platform for all these business leaders to showcase their targets for their companies and set real milestones, so that it is not just empty talk,” Lo said. “What we want to do at this summit is to really translate all these words into actions to drive actionable solutions towards the net-zero transition.”