First cross-border bulk trading of green energy certificates links up with Hong Kong’s international green finance market

According to China Southern Power Grid Company Limited on 19 October, a launch event for the first batch of cross-border bulk green energy certificate transactions targeting Hong Kong took place in Guangzhou on 14 October. Roughly 100,000 green energy certificates changed hands in the deal, corresponding to nearly 100 million kilowatt-hours of renewable power generation. 

The transaction marks the large-scale roll-out of China’s renewable green energy certificates, known as GECs, in Hong Kong and opens a formal channel connecting the mainland green certificate market with Hong Kong’s international green finance sector. It forms a landmark collaborative green energy initiative within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The trade adopts an innovative dual-agency model. Six mainland renewable power producers coordinated through the Shenzhen Green Power and Green Certificate Service Centre to negotiate collectively with Hong Kong buyers represented via Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited’s Core Climate platform. The cross-border bulk transaction settled on the Guangzhou Power Exchange Centre.

Nine Hong Kong organisations took part in the procurement, covering public services, banking, property management and education. The framework enables compliant, orderly and traceable cross-border use of mainland green certificates. It supplies Hong Kong operators with verifiable environmental assets to satisfy regulatory requirements, emissions reduction targets and ESG disclosure obligations, while creating new avenues for mainland renewable projects to realise value from environmental rights.

Hong Kong operates as an international green finance hub with a large base of listed firms and multinational entities seeking credible green power credentials. The mainland hosts the world’s largest installed wind and solar capacity and maintains a full lifecycle system covering green certificate issuance, trading, transfer, cancellation and traceability.

Guangzhou Power Exchange Centre and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement at the event to jointly develop new market mechanisms. 

Guangzhou Power Exchange Centre ranks as the country’s largest green certificate trading venue, accounting for more than 60 per cent of national green certificate turnover since 2025, and has completed earlier cross-border trades for Hong Kong and Macau buyers. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited runs major global financial infrastructure, with Core Climate serving as its dedicated platform for sustainability and green finance. 

The two parties will build firmer links between the two environmental rights markets, drawing on the strengths of the national power market, mainland renewable resources and Hong Kong’s international green finance position to serve green power demand from Hong Kong listed firms and multinational corporations.