The Role of Hong Kong Financial Institutions in Mitigating the Impact of Climate Change

Project Summary:

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority may also be engaged to participate in this project as part of the University of Chicago’s commitment to their partnership within HKMA’s project “The Alliance for Green Commercial Banks”.
The Guardian’s recent article: “Banks pumped more than $150bn in to companies running ‘carbon bomb’ projects in 2022”* introduces the question for this Research Design Studio project; “What is the role of the Hong Kong banking and finance industry in helping to mitigate climate change?”
Talk of ESG compliance abounds in Hong Kong and throughout Asia and the world, but what role are banks and financial institutions playing to support corporate ESG within their lending practices? Are corporate ESG reports used by banks and financial institutions to make loan and investment decisions useful to help corporations reverse climate change? Or, do the systems and procedures for loan making exist simply to meet a financial institution’s KPI measurements? What is the growth trajectory of “green loans” and what data quality and standards are used for evaluation? Is there sufficient demand for “green loans” in Hong Kong and Asia compared to other countries that are perceived to be leading in this area? Does Hong Kong and China adhere to “special China economic characteristics” for lending compared to the rest of the world? How can bank shareholders, investors and society have more transparency of bank financial and lending decisions that impact the climate? This Research Deigns Studio project will set out to answer these and other questions.

Deliverables:

Students will first work together to develop a design approach for the research. This may include developing a questionnaire and interview guide to conduct in-person or Zoom interviews. Thestudents will also identify primary and secondary sources to investigate and interrogate data in the public and private domain. Students will work to develop criteria for assessing the financial sector’s success or failure when considering climate and ESG in their lending decisions. This may become a framework for further assessment of financial institutions globally. A final paper/report will be written by the students providing an overview of the current situation within the industry as well as findings, conclusions and recommendations.

Preferred discipline(s):

Academia, Climate Science, Computer Science, Big Data Analytics, Consulting, Banking, Finance, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Journalism, Marketing, Policy, Social Enterprises and Social Media

Project Essential Skills:

Students interested in framing big problems, asking insightful questions, and shaping the project with creative approaches are invited to apply and will be considered.

Other Selection Criteria (if any):

N/A

Details of supervision arrangements:

Students are required to meet their project supervisors at least three times for progress update. The progress meetings are expected to conduct in person. For projects that are supervised by University of Chicago, the supervisors are either based in Hong Kong campus of University of Chicago or are planning to visit HK during the period of the research projects.