10 December, 2019

On 10 December 2019, Carbon Care Asia (CCA) and CarbonCare InnoLab (CCIL) jointly organised their annual flagship event in the Owner Box, Happy Valley Racecourse. Themed “Climate Emergency: Integrating Community and Business Actions”, the Conference was divided into two sessions with panel discussions — one on “Community Response to Climate Emergency” and another on “Business Response to Climate Emergency”. Local and overseas experts from business, finance and technology were invited to share their insights on how to tackle climate challenges. The first panel discussion was moderated by Ir Albert Lai, CEO of CCA, and the second session was moderated by veteran financial advisor Mr Johnnie Yung.

Speakers and panelists of 2019 CarbonCare^® Conference included:

Mr John Sayer, Director, CCA

Ms Mayling Chan, International Programme Director, Oxfam HK

Mr Ringo Mak, Programme Advisor, CarbonCare InnoLab

Messrs Fred Macias and James Marlow, members of Extinction Rebellion Hong Kong

Ms Ronie Mak, Managing Director, RS Group

Mr Gabriel Wilson-Otto, Head of Stewardship, Asia Pacific, BNP Paribas Asset Management

Ms Alexandra Tracy, President and Founder, Hoi Ping Ventures

Ms Ada Ng, Director, Corporate Affairs & Philanthropies, Microsoft Hong Kong

The 2019 CarbonCare^® Label Award Ceremony held in the afternoon was officiated by the Hon Kenneth Leung, Legislative Councillor (accountancy functional constituency). In his keynote speech on “Climate change and business accountability”, Mr Leung pointed out that despite the difference in values, corporates find considerable incentives in mitigating the impacts of climate change. The theme of CarbonCare^® Label 2019 Series is “Sustainable Development: Best-in-Class Performance”, which reflects increased expectations among investors and the tightening of regulatory requirements. This year, a total of 49 organisations received the CarbonCare^® Label, the CarbonCare^® ESG Label and the CarbonCare^® Star Label.

Mr Chong Chan Yau, CEO of CarbonCare InnoLab, announced a new label will be added to the scheme next year. The new CarbonCare^® Circularity Label aims to provide a framework for businesses keen to introduce Circular Economy concepts into their operations and to quantitatively measure their performance. For the pilot phase, the Label will start with paper which is the second largest component of municipal solid waste sent to landfills in Hong Kong. A full protocol for this Label with application details will be available soon.

CCA also took this opportunity to announce the partnership with Solactive AG, a German index provider, to launch the first Asia sustainability bond index — Solactive CarbonCare Asia Sustainability Bond Index. This index is the first of its kind to track the performance of green, social and sustainability bonds in the Asia-Pacific, with an aim to accelerate the growth and development of green bonds in the region.

The last session of the event saw three parallel workshops that aided corporates to foresee the trends in global sustainability reporting and to enhance professionalism. The themes covered by the workshops included: “Sustainability reporting — how to catch up with rising standards in HK and Singapore”, “Business solutions to Climate Risks — sectoral policies, TCFD, CRA and beyond” and “Staying ahead in carbon management — science-based targets and internal carbon pricing”.

Full list of 2019 CarbonCare^® Label, CarbonCare^® Star Label & CarbonCare^® ESG Label Awardees

Event Highlights 2019

Conference Programme and Speakers Profile

Photo captions:

1. Representatives of CarbonCare^® Label 2019 awardee organisations pictured with officiating guest the Hon Kenneth Leung and CCA, CCIL management team.
2. (From left) Mr Utkarsh Agrawal and Mr Jason Zeall, Vice Presidents of Solactive APAC Ltd of Solactive AG, a German index provider, Ir Albert Lai, CEO of Carbon Care Asia, and Ms Xing Lan, Associate Director (Sustainable Finance) of Carbon Care Asia announced the launch of Solactive CarbonCare Asia Sustainability Bond Index, the first index of its kind co-developed by the two companies.
3. The Hon Kenneth Leung delivered a keynote speech on “Climate change and business accountability”.
4. Mr Chong Chan Yau, Director of Carbon Care Asia gave the welcome remarks.
5. Mr Christoph Ganswindt, Executive Director, Information Technology and Sustainability, The Hong Kong Jockey Club, delivered the opening speech.
6. The theme of session one of the conference was “Community Response to Climate Emergency”. The panel discussion, moderated by CCA CEO Ir Albert Lai, (1^st left), included speakers and panelist (from left) Mr John Sayer, Director of Carbon Care Asia, Ms Mayling Chan, International Programme Director of Oxfam HK, Mr Ringo Mak, Programme Advisor of CarbonCare InnoLab and Mr James Marlow, member of Extinction Rebellion Hong Kong.
7. Mr John Sayer, Director of Carbon Care Asia, focused his presentation on “Just transition: leaving no one behind in a low-carbon future”.
8. Ms Mayling Chan, International Programme Director of Oxfam HK, posed a question on the effectiveness of green bonds with her presentation “Can green bonds deliver robust climate action: a reality check”.
9. Mr Ringo Mak, Programme Advisor of CarbonCare InnoLab, gave a presentation on “Solution to Climate Crisis: market fix vs technology fix”.
10. The presentation of Mr Fred Macias, member of Extinction Rebellion Hong Kong urged for concrete actions in his presentation “In the midst of extinction, immediate action is vital”.
11. Speakers and panelist of session one of the conference each received a one-tonne Gold Standard certified carbon offset as souvenir.
12. The theme of session two of the conference was “Business Response to Climate Emergency”. The panel discussion was moderated by veteran financial advisor Mr Johnnie Yung (1^st left). Ms Ada Ng, Director, Corporate Affairs & Philanthropies of Microsoft Hong Kong, Ms Alexandra Tracy, President and Founder of Hoi Ping Ventures and Ms Ronie Mak, Managing Director of RS Group joined the panel (from left).
13. In her presentation, Ms Ronie Mak, Managing Director of RS Group, shared her views on climate action across the capital spectrum from a family office’s perspective.
14. Mr Gabriel Wilson-Otto, Head of Stewardship, Asia Pacific, BNP Paribas Asset Management, gave a presentation on “The importance of TCFD: moving from disclosure to engagement”.
15. Ms Alexandra Tracy, President and Founder of Hoi Ping Ventures, spoke on “Green banks: can new vehicles spur new investments?”.
16. Ms Ada Ng, Director, Corporate Affairs & Philanthropies of Microsoft Hong Kong, explained “How AI can contribute to protecting the Earth” in her presentation.
17. The moderator Mr Johnnie Yung (1^st left) and the speakers of session two of the conference each received a one-tonne Gold Standard certified carbon offset as souvenir.
18. Mr Chong Chan Yau, CEO of CarbonCare InnoLab, announced that three categories of CarbonCare^® Labels were awarded to 49 companies and organisations in 2019.
19. Mr Chong Chan Yau presented a one-tonne Gold Standard certified carbon offset certificate to thank the Hon Kenneth Leung.
20. Workshop One delved into “Sustainability reporting: how to catch up with rising standards in HK and Singapore”.
21. The theme of Workshop Two was “Business solutions to climate risks: sectoral policies, TCFD, CRA and beyond”.
22. Workshop Three focused on “Staying ahead in carbon management: science-based targets and internal carbon pricing”.