Mainland China's green certificates achieve first centralized cross-border trading, marking large-scale landing in Hong Kong

The nationwide first centralized trading event for cross-border green certificates was held in Guangzhou on 14. The session saw approximately 10 million green certificates traded, corresponding to nearly 1 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable energy. This marks the large-scale implementation of mainland China's renewable energy green electricity certificates in the Hong Kong market, establishing a channel connecting the mainland green certificate market with Hong Kong's international green finance market. It represents a landmark practice in green energy collaborative innovation within the Greater Bay Area.

This transaction introduces an innovative "dual-agent" model, where 6 mainland new energy power generators coordinate with Hong Kong users via the Shenzhen Green Power and Certificate Service Center and the platform agent of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, ultimately completing cross-border green certificate trading through the Guangzhou Electricity Trading Center.

9 Hong Kong institutions participating in the cross-border green certificate procurement span diverse sectors including public services, banking and finance, real estate, and education. Leveraging the efficient services provided by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to local clients, transactions ensure compliant, orderly, and traceable cross-border application of mainland green certificates. This provides a credible environmental asset tool for Hong Kong businesses to meet regulatory requirements, achieve emission reduction targets, and conduct ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) disclosures, while also expanding value realization channels for mainland renewable energy projects—fostering resource complementarity, market connectivity, mutual recognition of value, and shared growth for both sides.

Zhou Guanying, General Counsel and Group Chief Sustainability Officer of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) Group, stated that this cross-border pilot trading of green certificates is a key step in strengthening market connectivity for green energy in the Greater Bay Area. It also marks the first time HKEX has collaborated with mainland power exchanges to jointly build a transparent, efficient, and interconnected sustainable financial infrastructure.

Liu Jintao, Deputy Director of the Green Power Development Center at the Guangzhou Electricity Exchange Center, stated that the Greater Bay Area offers a unique advantage in aligning mainland and Hong Kong market rules. The Guangzhou Electricity Exchange Center will deepen comprehensive cooperation with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, continuously refine cross-border trading mechanisms, optimize business processes, expand the supply of cross-border green asset products, and better serve Hong Kong's diverse users' demand for green energy consumption.

At the event, the Guangzhou Power Exchange and the Hong Kong Exchanges signed a cooperation agreement, jointly advancing a series of mechanism innovations. Moving forward, the Guangzhou Power Exchange will continue to refine cross-border green certificate trading and service mechanisms, support pilot initiatives in the Greater Bay Area, steadily expand the scale of cross-border green certificate trading, and collaborate with all parties to align green rights rules and enable standard interoperability.

This event is jointly organized by the Guangzhou Power Exchange and the Hong Kong Exchanges.