Measures urged to mitigate ESG 'greenwashing' risks

Top-down training

Jenny Lee, undersecretary-general of the Hong Kong Green Finance Association (HKGFA), noted that greenwashing can sometimes occur unintentionally. She said there are so many regulations coming down the pipe that it can be difficult to make sense of them all, and that people need training. Company executives should ensure some of the basic definitions are understood from the top down, and that the right types of controls and processes are in place, she said.

Jessica Chan, head of sustainability at MTR Corporation Ltd, added it is more important to translate all kinds of guidance into internal requirements for the colleagues. "We have to do it together within the whole organization to move forward," she said.

She recently formulated a long-term decarbonization road map and carbon reduction targets for MTR, and developed a set of key performance indicators to gauge and drive the company's performance in a wide range of sustainability aspects.

With an investment background, John Zhang, senior business development director of China Resources Environmental Protection Technology Ltd, shared his observation that professional investors know about greenwashing, but the general public, and decision-makers in other industries, need to be educated, or they will fall into the trap of greenwashing without acknowledging it.

This event is sponsored by Sino Group and The Fullerton Ocean Park Hotel Hong Kong.