Public policy think tank Civic Exchange and the British Consulate-General co-organised a workshop to explore the latest developments in carbon trading and the implications for the financial centres of the world. This workshop is supported by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited.
As the world considers how to meet the climate change challenge, financial centres such as Hong Kong must work out what positive role they can play to price greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
This would be an important step in ensuring the right financial incentives are in place to achieve large emissions reductions within the foreseeable future.
The UNFCCC's flexible market mechanisms, including emissions trading and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), were designed to assist in that process, but they face many challenges.
There is expectation that significant progress can be made by the Conference of the Parties takes place in Copenhagen in 2009. One of the hurdles for Copenhagen 2009 is how to adjust the flexible market mechanisms so that they work better, and how financial services can be reshaped to help the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change- Civic Exchange
Bio
Angus Barclay
Angus Barclay is the general manager of the International Affairs Department of Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong. His role includes managing Cathay Pacific's Environment Office as well as securing international operating rights for the airline both to and across other countries.
Angus joined the Swire Group in 1987 and has worked for three companies within the group in six countries. Within Cathay Pacific, Angus has held senior positions in Marketing and Revenue Management and served as country manager for India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, The Benelux, and Singapore.
Between 2000 and 2006, Angus was seconded first as the Swire Group's commercial manager in Australia and then as director and general manager of a Cathay Pacific Subsidiary, Cathay Pacific Catering Services (Hong Kong) Ltd.
Matthew Harrison
Matthew Harrison is current head of research and corporate development at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx). In that role, he supports certain of HKE's major market development projects.
He has been involved in HKE's exploration of the need for an emissions trading platform in Hong Kong for the past year. This project has involved studying overseas emissions markets, consulting local and overseas participants, and gauging local demand.
Matthew joined the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (now part of HKEx) in 1993 and has been involved in research, planning, and project work relating to market development since then. He is a UK-qualified chartered accountant. Matthew is also the author of a book Asia-Pacific Securities Markets/i>, which has been through four editions.
Ian Johnson
Ian joined IDEAcarbon following a distinguished career at the World Bank. For eight years, he was the bank's vice president for sustainable development, overseeing its work on climate change and carbon finance.
As VP, Ian was responsible for policy, strategy, and oversight of the World Bank's work in environment, social policy, and agriculture and rural development. He was the chief spokesperson for the bank on all matters of policy related to environmentally and socially sustainable development.
Ian created and oversaw a major expansion in new and innovative funds including the bank's carbon finance business, the Global Environment Facility and Montreal Protocol funds utilised by the bank, the Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund, and major funds for social and economic policy research.
Prior to that, he played a major role in negotiating the establishment of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and was senior manager of its operations from 1992 for about six years.
Previously, he was an economist with the British government and spent five years in rural Bangladesh working with the United Nations and a voluntary organization.
Ian is presently an advisor to Globe, G8+5, and to the UNFCCC and Chairman of IDEAcarbon.
Gail Kendall
Gail Kendall is Managing Director of the CLP Research Institute (CLPRI) and serves as Director of the Group Environmental Affairs in CLP Holdings Limited.
She manages environmental issues for the entire scope of CLP Group's activities and also directs innovative and environmentally beneficial technology research related to business and activities of CLP Group. The company is a leader in the Hong Kong power sector, as well as throughout greater China and Southeast Asia, in promoting renewable energy and addressing climate change.
Ms. Kendall is a fellow of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers and received an Honorary Fellowship in the Energy Institute. Before joining CLP, she held a number of other positions, including professor of the practice of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Director of Strategic Science and Technology for the Electric Power Research Institute and Chair of the Hearing Board of the (San Francisco) Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
She is active in a variety of business and professional organizations in Hong Kong and internationally, has published numerous scientific and technical papers, and is frequently invited as a guest speaker at energy and environmental events. She holds a doctorate from MIT, and bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of California at Berkeley.
Christine Loh
Christine Loh is the founder and CEO of Civic Exchange, an independent, non-profit public policy think tank. Loh has an English law degree and a Masters of Law degree in Chinese and Comparative Law. She has been awarded the degree of Doctor of Law, honoris causa, by her alma mater, the University of Hull.
Loh has worked in many areas, including law, business, politics, media, and the non-profit sector, but is best known as a leading voice in public policy in Hong Kong, particularly in promoting democracy and environmental protection.
In January 200,7 she was named as Hong Kong Business's "Woman of the Year for 2006."
Liam Salter
Salter is the Head of WWF Hong Kong's Climate Programme. Established in September 2006, the Programme focuses on supporting individuals, corporations, and the financial sector in Hong Kong and southern China to take concrete action on climate change.
From 1999-2006, Liam initiated and directed WWF International's Asia Pacific Climate Programme, building a team of campaigners across the region. Between 2001 and 2006, WWF set up ten new national programs focusing on climate and energy issues, and became the largest NGO network on the issue in Asia.
At the national level, Liam worked on a wide variety of initiatives, covering issues such as policy reform, carbon trading, private sector capacity building, clean energy trade promotion, international UN negotiations, the impacts of climate change and public awareness raising. Liam also co-led a team that developed the Gold Standard for carbon offsets, now an independent foundation and a leading quality standard for project-based carbon credits.
Prior to joining WWF, Liam worked as a political analyst for the Climate Action Network, representing nearly eighty European environmental groups in Brussels. He holds a Masters of Science in Environmental Technology from Imperial College, London.
Shane Spurway
Shane Spurway is the head of Carbon Banking in Asia for Fortis Bank.
Spurway has been involved in the carbon and emissions markets since 2001, when he was founding partner of an Australian company that provided emission risk management and carbon advisory services in the region. Fortis Bank is the leading participant in the emission markets in Europe, offering the entire spectrum of carbon banking services.
In 2002, Spurway established the Hong Kong branch of the bank, expanded coverage to HKSE listed companies, and worked on various projects that would qualify for emission reduction credits via the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol.
His work on emission abatement and renewable energy projects has spanned all major continents. Prior to this, he worked in the financial markets as a principal trader for leading international banks for fifteen years.
Hubert Tose
Hubert Tose is executive director and founder of Anemone Green Capital.
Hubert Tose specializes in arranging carbon financing for environmental projects that generate emissions credits under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism as well as voluntary credits under the WWF's Gold Standard and the Voluntary Carbon Standard.
Hubert was formerly a senior vice president and Asia Pacific head for the International Environmental Trading Group. He was a member of the IETG team that was hired by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2007 to perform a feasibility study for the Exchange on Emissions Trading.
Prior to his career in this industry, Hubert worked for a corporate finance team assembled for Yuanta Securities and place in Yuanta's subsidiaries Core Pacific-Yamaichi and Kim Eng Capital, specializing in originating IPO and M&A deals out of Greater China. He has previously worked in London and Beijing and has extensive experience operating in Asia Pacific.
Carbon trading does not lower CO2. It merely allows people (like Al Gore) to continue overindulgent lifestyles. Speaking of Mr. Gore...I found this very informative
member. 
