Speech by FS at TNC's Asia Pacific Council's 25th Anniversary Dinner
Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at the Nature Conservancy (TNC)'s Asia Pacific Council's 25th Anniversary Dinner today (May 15):
Click to Gallery
Source: AI-found images
Speech by FS at TNC's Asia Pacific Council's 25th Anniversary Dinner Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Speech by FS at TNC's Asia Pacific Council's 25th Anniversary Dinner Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Source: AI-found images
Dr Fred Hu (Global Board Member and Asia Pacific Council's Co-Chair of TNC) and Mrs Abby Hu, Mrs Jennifer Morris (Chief Executive Officer of TNC),Mr George Tahija (Asia Pacific Council's Co-Chair of TNC), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good evening.
Let me begin with an observation. Some people say that finance and nature make strange bedfellows. I have never quite understood why. Both punish short-termism, both reward diversification, and both can unravel spectacularly when systemic risks are ignored.
And perhaps that is precisely the point. The challenges before us do not fall neatly into separate sectors, just as ecosystems do not exist in isolation. Climate, biodiversity, communities, commerce and capital are all connected. To protect nature, we must bring together people and institutions that may once have seemed unlikely partners.
Twenty-five years ago, TNC's Asia Pacific Council did exactly that. It brought together an extraordinary community of leaders from business, science, philanthropy and policy, united by the conviction that nature is the foundation of our future.
Since then, you have helped protect vast landscapes and seascapes across the region, advanced community-based conservation, and built a network of cross-sector and cross-boundary partnerships that have multiplied your impact.
Tonight, we celebrate that legacy - and the work that lies ahead.
Because the urgency has only grown. Climate change and extreme weather events are intensifying, and biodiversity loss is only compounding the crisis further.
Our task is to turn that vicious cycle into a virtuous one: a model of sustainable development in which economic progress, ecological health, and social well-being advance together and reinforce one another.
For this vision to materialise, commitment to environmental goals must be the starting point. Hong Kong remains steadfast in our commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
We are equally committed to protecting biodiversity. At the end of last year, we released an updated Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan 2035. Central to it is the principle of "mainstreaming".
That means treating biodiversity not as a standalone issue, but as a consideration built into the decision-making process in infrastructure, urban planning, housing, transport and many other areas of public policy.
But we also firmly believe in the value and opportunities that green transition creates. The business case is compelling. Governments are raising green standards. Consumers, especially younger generations, are demanding greener products and services. Companies that lead on sustainability will win markets, not just goodwill.
This momentum is already driving new technologies, industries, and value chains. Consider EVs (electric vehicles), wind turbines, and solar installations, which have become flagship exports of our country.
AI holds enormous potential, too. According to the International Energy Agency, existing AI tools could optimise industrial processes to save more energy than Mexico consumes in an entire year.
Green transition is therefore one of the greatest investment opportunities of our time. Green finance and impact investing are gaining momentum worldwide, as investors increasingly seek growth with purpose.
Hong Kong is uniquely placed to connect the dots. As an international financial centre, we go beyond the volume of green financing. We are constantly innovating in how capital is mobilised for the green transition. Digital green bonds, insurance-linked securities such as catastrophe bonds, and taxonomy frameworks for transition financing are recent examples of how we channel more capital into green projects.
We are also a growing innovation and technology hub. By bringing together academia, business, talent and capital, we are building an ecosystem that can nurture and scale green solutions - from AI-powered storm prediction to sustainable aviation fuel and coral reef restoration.
Ladies and gentlemen, no single government, sector or institution can deliver this green vision alone. It demands a truly multi-stakeholder effort. It calls for deeper collaboration across sectors and borders.
That is why the work of partners like TNC matters so deeply. We look to you to keep doing what you do best: bringing leaders together, and turning shared responsibility into shared action.
Yet, the best policies and partnerships ultimately rest on something deeper: the human heart, and the values we pass from one generation to another. Those values are not shaped by words alone, but by wonder, memory, and a felt connection to the living world around us.
A child who has marvelled at a coral reef, caught sight of a black-faced spoonbill on a mudflat, or simply stood quietly in a forest does not need to be told that nature matters.
That sense of wonder is where stewardship begins. Our children will care for what they have come to love. Our task is to help them form that bond.
Allow me to close with the words of Sir David Attenborough, the renowned natural historian and broadcaster who celebrated his 100th birthday just last week.
He said, "…[N]o species has ever had such wholesale control over everything on Earth, living or dead, as we now have… In our hands now lies not only our own future, but that of all other living creatures with whom we share the Earth."
The message could not be clearer: our futures are bound together, and so too is our responsibility to act.
To TNC's Asia Pacific Council: thank you for 25 years of turning that responsibility into action. Here's to the next 25. Thank you very much.
Source: AI-found images
Speech by FS at TNC's Asia Pacific Council's 25th Anniversary Dinner Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Speech by FS at TNC's Asia Pacific Council's 25th Anniversary Dinner Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Source: AI-found images
