The upcoming 28th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) will host Hong Kong Climate Day and find a delegation led by the Hong Kong Ambassadors Club among other representatives.
Participating in COP28 will be the BridgeME HKAC UAE-HK-GBA COP28 NextGen delegation spearheaded by HKAC co-founders Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung, who is also a member of the Legislative Council and Executive Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and Patrick Tsang, chairman of Tsangs Group.
Fifteen delegates consisting of members of family offices, technology family businesses from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong will be present from Nov 29 to Dec 4 in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with a mission to project the strength and potential Hong Kong and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in green finance, sustainability, and technology.
In line with its mission of "Hong Kong 3.0 -- Prosperity Connected Globally", the HKAC converted this vision into climate solutions at COP28 to co-create dialogues with Wang Shi, founder of the DeepRock Group and honorary chairman and founder of Vanke Group.
Wang is also the UN Environment Goodwill ambassador and president of World Wildlife Fund China. He supported the China Pavilion at COP for the last 13 years and curated the Biosphere 3 Solutions Pavilion in Blue Zone this year.
Jeffrey Lam is expected to engage in a high-level dialogue with Wang at the Biosphere 3 Solutions Pavilion in Blue Zone on Dec 1. The dialogue will focus on the Greater Bay Area, interwoven with the Belt and Road Initiative. Its primary objective is to explore and identify practical solutions to address the challenges posed by climate change.
The dialogue will also discuss the position of Hong Kong as a global green finance center and the roles that family offices in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area can play.
Dec 8 will witness the Hong Kong Climate Day, and the HKAC is expected to partner with the DeepRock Group for sessions in the Blue Zone over the themes of climate-proof technologies, innovations and impact investment with the roles of the next generations of family offices and technology entrepreneurs; dialogues and exchanges in the relevant context of Hong Kong as the Asia's green finance hub are also to be expected.
Climate-related tech companies from Hong Kong, such as A-Grade Energy, Rice Robotics and Green Monday, will participate in the curation. Several strategic alliance and partnership agreements are expected to be signed to advocate the global climate agenda.
Keynotes will be delivered by a representative of the World Economic Forum Global Urban Transformation Centre, and Hanyuan Wang Karen, founder of Climind, a data-as-a-service platform that measures and analyses climate change information. Wang is also an SDG Young leader recognized by the UN.
Envisioning to promote the brand of "Hong Kong Inc", the HKAC drives impactful business groups and top-level investor networks to bridge Hong Kong with strategic regions such as the Middle East, highlighting the UAE as the prime location to connect and foster deeper relations through business and investment partnerships.
As the biggest global private wealth management center in Asia, "Hong Kong is capable of satisfying the wealth management needs of different firms and families based on a sound legal system and the diversification of services and talents," said Lam.
With the launch of a series of measures by the Hong Kong government to provide tax concessions for family-owned investment, Lam said he is confident that Hong Kong will attract more family offices from the Middle East to establish branches and transform into a global family office hub.
Tsang said the HKAC is honored to participate in the biggest climate convention for government, business and civil societies.
"We support the congress's leitmotif 'Unite. Act. Deliver.' and will be hosting Hong Kong Climate Day at COP28 through the private sector and family offices to discuss global solutions to make our cities more livable for future generations," said Tsang.
The HKAC has been successfully curating scores of business delegations to Dubai and Aub Dhabi in the UAE and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia in June and September, respectively, with ten leading Hong Kong companies. More than 40 memorandums of understanding were signed during these delegation visits, including one in collaboration with the ROSHN Group, Saudi Arabia's first real estate developer and PIF-owned giga project.