AFTER enduring social unrest, geopolitical tensions and the Covid-19 pandemic, this Asian financial and shipping hub — long seen by many as in decline — has finally found an opportunity to stage a comeback.

The Action Plan on Green Maritime Fuel Bunkering and accompanying incentive scheme unveiled a few weeks ago is seen by the local shipping community as a step by the Hong Kong government in the right direction — but only a step.

The ambition is big, because behind it is not just a Hong Kong story, but a China story. Here, promoting renewables and ensuring energy security are closely intertwined, and its massive scale and cost advantage in this sector has led people to believe that the country will become the world’s largest supplier of low-emission fuels, such as green methanol and ammonia.

Hong Kong, a former British colony and the most outward-looking and free trading part of Chinese territory, despite Beijing’s tightening grip over the past decade, should become one of the most important exporters, or a trading hub for these fuels to reach the world, some argue.

In the words of Hong Kong Chamber of Shipping chairman Hing Chao, the vision is to “provide a Chinese solution to global maritime decarbonisation¨ through Hong Kong.

Can this vision succeed? What more does Hong Kong need to do? For example, does it need to implement its own carbon pricing mechanism with neighbouring Chinese ports, say those in the Hong Kong-Macao-Guangdong Greater Bay Area, or GBA, before the International Maritime Organization’s mid-term measures roll out?

More importantly, can China fulfill its ambition to become the “world’s factory” for green fuels? What challenges need to be overcome?

Also, will geopolitics, which is accelerating the reconfiguration of global trade and supply chains, and arguably also affecting the pace of global decarbonisation, hinder the realisation of this ambition?

Joining Cichen on this week’s episode are: 

• Hing Chao, chairman of the Hong Kong Chamber of Shipping and Wah Kwong Maritime Transport

• Roberto Giannetta, chairman of the Hong Kong Liner Shipping Association

• Sanjay Kuttan, chief strategy officer of the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation