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Hong Kong environmental issues
OpinionComment
Christine Loh
Christine Loh

Opinion | Hong Kong needs ESG talent, but what makes someone qualified?

  • Companies in Hong Kong are urgently seeking employees who can help them meet their sustainability goals, but finding the right skill set is a challenge
  • This talent gap is driving the development of new courses and qualifications that encompass training in both business and the environment

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The campus of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), the first university in the city to offer an undergraduate degree in green finance. Photo: HKUST
Christine Loh

Who qualifies as a sustainability professional? This is a matter that has yet to be settled. Employers in Hong Kong are seeking to hire people with experience in measuring the sustainability of a company or investment from the perspective of its environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance.

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Such experience is increasingly sought after owing to the pressure on companies to disclose their ESG performance, amid a global and local push for them to reduce their carbon and other emissions, as well as improve their social impact. Companies are collecting data on their environmental and social performances because regulators, bankers, insurers and investors are demanding to see it – especially with respect to climate risks, since mitigating climate change is now a major endeavour across economies.
For example, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, which regulates banks, is requiring lenders to report their climate risks. The banks, in turn, are asking their corporate clients to disclose their climate risks, because these are part of the bank’s risks.

The Securities and Futures Commission, which regulates the securities market, including the stock exchange, is also requiring similar disclosures of listed companies. The stock exchange has also been strengthening its ESG disclosure requirements.

Disclosure of environmental information is complicated because it is not just about one’s own emissions or the emissions one can control, such as how much energy a company generates or uses, but also the indirect emissions that are produced along a company’s supply chains, such as through purchased products and services.
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The disclosure of social performance poses new challenges too. The social component of ESG boils down to relationships. It requires a company to address how it manages its relations with stakeholders: employees, suppliers, customers, shareholders and the communities in which it operates, often covering many jurisdictions.

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