6. Instead of setting a quantitative threshold or target for Green investments, we believe our present approach is a more pragmatic and likely to be a more effective way of promoting Green and ESG investments. We will continue to work with like-minded investors to promote focus on good ESG practices in managing their investments. In the interest of transparency, the HKMA will also consider an appropriate framework for disclosing the Exchange Fund’s Green and ESG investment efforts without arousing market sensitivity in the process. Capacity Building in Green Finance: Centre for Green Finance (CGF) 7. Hong Kong is already one of the major green finance hubs in the world. Last year a total of $ billion of green bonds were issued and arranged in Hong Kong. Earlier this morning, the HKMA, as the implementation agent of the $ billion Government Green Bond Programme, announced that a roadshow will be held for a potential green bond offering. Under the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay 2/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  Area, Hong Kong is the designated green finance centre in the Area. With the launch of the Green and Sustainable Banking initiative and the rapid growth of the Green Bond market, Hong Kong possesses enormous potential to become a leading Green Finance Hub in the world. However, in pursuing our aspirations, there is a pressing need to upgrade our capacity and expertise in green finance in the financial industry. 8.
Over the past three or four years we have had many discussions on this issue with the ECB and the European Commission. We have repeatedly pointed out that setting the inflation criterion in relative terms - against the three best performers in the EU - was an appropriate option 10 years ago. But today we have another firm anchor: the single currency and the definition of price stability applied by the ECB. The purpose is for an applicant to converge with the euro area. So the benchmark should be the price stability benchmark used by the ECB and not the countries that happen to have the lowest inflation, quite often because of one-off shocks. Even more important, the growing number of EU members increases the probability of extremes: by definition the distribution of inflation rates is wider. Therefore the benchmark currently being used is systematically lower than it was during the second half of the 1990s. This means that the favourite argument of equal treatment does not hold: the same rule leads to stricter treatment because there is a different and much larger sample. All these examples illustrate a more general European dilemma. We need a stable legal framework, but all legal systems in history have evolved as the world has changed. Rules such as constitutions are - and should be - difficult to change. Others, however, have to be more flexible. There is little doubt that rules supporting policymakers' decisions belong to the latter group.