progress or a stagnation of growth, as long as we can find the right balance between addressing climate change and maintaining socioeconomic development. yes, it would be a difficult, long, and winding journey, but we hope that this two - day forum will contribute to charting the right path through it. here in hong kong, our emissions are very small given our small physical size, but we are committed to doing our part and will aim to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050 through four main decarbonisation strategies : " net - zero electricity generation, " " energysaving and green buildings, " " green transport, " and " waste reduction ". 1 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches as an international financial centre, the gateway linking up mainland china with the rest of the world, as well as asia's sustainable finance hub, we can do a lot more in climate finance. in fact, hong kong has been actively contributing to the region's transition by supporting sustainable financing, fostering innovation, and promoting thought leadership. as part of these strategies, the hong kong financial regulators have implemented various initiatives to promote sustainable finance and support the transition to a lowcarbon economy. for example, we have established the green and sustainable finance cross - agency steering group to coordinate the effort across the whole financial sector, whether it is banking, securities, or insurance, to green our financial system. we have also introduced the green and sustainable finance grant scheme to provide financial incentives to eligible bond issuers to take up sustainable financing. we have set up the hong kong voluntary carbon market, and also released new guidelines on climate - related disclosure of climate - risks and opportunities. so a lot has been done and there will be more coming, including the hong kong taxonomy. in 2022, more than one - third of the asia region's green and sustainable bonds and loans were arranged in hong kong, reflecting our increasing prominence in sustainable finance. the annual issuance of green and sustainable debt in hong kong has also seen remarkable growth in the last few years, expanding from just us $ 12 billion in 2020 to more than us $ 80 billion in 2022, a six - fold increase in just two years. our financial industry has taken significant steps to integrate esg considerations into their governance structures, strategic decision - making, risk management practices, and disclosure processes. we are also keen to join hand with like - minded peers like many of you here today. the ifc and hkma have had a

dollar retail bonds, and the most recent one appears to have been issued as far back as in september 2003. today ’ s hkmc us dollar bond issuance would help to meet part of such investment demand. perhaps in times to come there will be more foreign currency bond issuance in hong kong. this bond issuance would add to the diversity of financial intermediation channels and complement the hkma ’ s effort to promote the development of a multi - currency, multi - dimensional financial system in hong kong. finally, i am pleased to see many old friends of the hkmc supporting this new issue. i would like to thank the hsbc and bank of china ( hong kong ) for underwriting a portion of the bond issue as well as placing the notes. taking this opportunity, i would also like to thank the other placing banks, namely, bank of america ( asia ), bank of communications, bank of east asia, chiyu bank, citic ka wah bank, dah sing bank, dbs bank, hang seng bank, fubon bank ( hong kong ), liu chong hing bank, nanyang commercial bank, shanghai commercial bank, standard chartered bank ( hong kong ), wing hang bank and wing lung bank, for their participation in this bond issue. with their extensive branch networks, and sophisticated telephone banking and the internet banking facility, i look forward to another successful retail bond issue by the hkmc. thank you.