Agenda: Asia Climate Summit (ACS) 2026
LOCATION
Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China
START
Jul 7, 2026
END
Jul 9, 2026
- Keynote
- Plenary
- Social events & networking breaks
- Side Event
- Workshops & Breakouts
- Kelvin Low, Professor, University of Hong Kong
- Sim Ting, General Counsel, GenZero
- Megumi Muto, Senior Managing Executive Officer, Deputy Chief Sustainability Officer, Mizuho Financial Group
- Wang Haijun, Senior Partner, Beijing DHH *
- Zhang Qiaoling, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, Guangzhou Power Exchange Centre
- Wu Guoshan, Index Division, Guangzhou Futures Exchange
- Xu Shangfei, Haed of Market Promotion, Shenzhen Stock Exchange
- Duan Yiran, Bysiness Manager, China Central Depository & Clearing Co (Shenzhen Branch)
- Lui Jun, Deputy Director, Trading Services Department, Shenzhen Green Exchange
- Shailendra Mishra - Global Head of Sustainability: Food, Feed and Freight, OLAM Group*
- Johny Yu - Advisor to the Chairman: Head of Sustainability Department, Henderson Land
- Andy Lau - Head of Corporate Responsibility and Foundation, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX)
- To be announced - Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL)
- Nadiya Nair - Strategy & Development, Renewable Energy & Carbon Markets, ACT Commodities
- Sandeep Roy Choudhury, Co-Founder & Director - Value Network
Ventures (VNV) - Sami Izutsu, Deputy Head of Carbon Solution Business Unit - Sumitomo Corporation *
- Yashodhan Ramteke - CEO, Ecoguard Global
- Andrew Howard - CEO, Climate Action Data Trust
- Donald Chan - Asia Director, ICVCM
- Wei Mei Hum - Head of Asia, Carbon Trust
- Jin Deane - CEO, Trovio
- Organiser Welcome Address & Facilitator: Dirk Forrister - President & CEO, IETA
Ministerial Opening Addresses: Cao Yuanshu - Deputy Director of Carbon Trading Division 1, Department of Climate Change, Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), People's Republic of China
- Hosts Welcome Addresses: Chris Hui - Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB), The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China
- Diane Wong - Under Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Environment and Ecology Bureau (EEB), The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China
- Julia Leung - Chief Executive Officer, Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC)
- Bonnie Y Chan - Chief Executive Officer, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX)
- Paul Chow - Group General Counsel and Group & Chief Sustainability Officer, HKEX
- Genevieve Ding - Executive Director, Head of APAC Sustainability, JP Morgan
- Oi-Yee Choo - CEO, Climate Impact X (CIX)
- Sasha Mackler - Senior Vice President, Global Head of Strategic Policy, ExxonMobil
- Victoria Powell - Senior Manager-ESG, Regulatory Affairs, The World Federation of Exchanges
- Kishor Rajhansa - COO, Global Carbon Council (GCC)
- Alvin Lee - Head of Supply, Puro.earth
- William Barrett - Vice President, 1PointFive
- Leon Heng - Senior Managing Consultant, South Pole
- Sylvia Low - Director of Business Development, 1PointFive
- David Ungar - Managing Director, Carbon Finance Lab
- Joanna Tan, Head of Fundraising (Asia) - New Forests
- Geoffrey Seeto, Senior Managing Director, Emerging Markets - New Forests
- Eric Jeanneau, Senior Manager Business Dev & Ops - Nature Based Solutions Asia Pacific - TotalEnergies
- Gerrit Held, Climate Change Specialist - Asian Development Bank (ADB)
- Wissarut Muangpluem - Thailand, Department of Climate Change and Environment, Thailand
- Le Thi Thu Thanh - Deputy Head, Vietnam, General Affairs and International Cooperation Division, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam
- Rolando O. Abad Jr. -Senior Environmental Management Specialist, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Philippines,
- Datuk Nor Yahati, Deputy Secretary General (Environmental Sustainability) - Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability, Malaysia *
- Sylvia Low - Director, 1PointFive
- Madhur Jain - CEO, Varaha
- Alvin Lee - Head of Supply, Puro.earth
- Trishna Nagrani - Head of Business Development - Asia Pacific, Climeworks
- Cao Yuanshu - Deputy Director of Carbon Trading Division 1, Department of Climate Change, Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), People's Republic of China
- Shu Wang - Key Expert, EU-China Dialogue and Cooperation on ETS-related Policies and Measures
- Xiaolu Zhao - Senior Director Climate, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
- Tony Gai, Carbon Trading Manager, Sinochem
- Safina Huang - Senior Adviser, Tencent
- Per Lindberg - Partner, Morrisson Foerster
- Adam Kirkman - Strategic Advisor, Xpansiv
- Joanne Hon - Managing Director, Equinix Hong Kong
- Susan Zhu - Chairman, Shanghai Treasure Carbon
- Shuchi Malhotra - Lead Advisor - Carbon Markets, Environmental Defence Fund
- Zhang Jianyu - Chief Development Director, BRI International Green Development Coalition (BRIGC)
- Liao Yuan - Executive Director and General Manager, China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group (CECEP)
- Xiaolu Zhao - Senior Director Climate, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
- Perumal Arumugam - Manager, Mitigation Division, UNFCCC
- Frederick Teo - CEO, GenZero
- Geoffrey Seeto - Senior Managing Director, Head of Emerging Markets, New Forests
- Charis Yeap, SE Asia Regional Lead, Green Finance and Carbon Pricing Mechanisms - British High Commission
- Hiromi Nakagawa, Manager, Business Exploration & Creation Team - Osaka Gas
- Yan Qin - Principal Analyst, ClearBlue Markets
- Alfredo Nicastro - Senior Vice President, Head of Carbon Markets, StoneX Group
- Boyang Jin - National Chair of Carbon Market Working Group, European Union Chamber of Commerce in China
- Prachi Priya, Vice President and Head - Policy Advocacy and Economics, Hindalco Industries Limited
- Narender Sharma, Vice President, JSW Steel
- John Lo, Founder, Asia Carbon Institute
- Ken Chiu, Head of Carbon & ESG Products, HKEX
- Beth Chim, Head of APAC, Sylvera
- Manly Liu, CEO, V Carbon ESG
- Geoffrey Seeto, Senior Managing Director, New Forests
- Dr. Nongnuch Poolsawad, Director of Research Group, NSTDA
- Riaz Ahmed Wagan, Chief Conservator of Forests, Forest Department, Government of Sindh, Pakistan
- Komal Sinha, Market Development Head of Asia - Climate Action Reserve (CAR)
- Ella Wang, Senior Program Director, Climate Innovation Center - Tencent
- Ravi Gupta, Senior Manager, Natural Capital and Carbon Markets - The Nature Conservancy
- Frances Chen, Director, Sustainability and Climate Change, North Asia - HSBC
- Kayser, Deputy Director - State Grid Corporation of China
- Jin Guo, CFO - Sentinel Earth
- Kasia Lewis, Partner, Global Center of Climate Policy - EY
- Steffi Teo, Emissions Insight Analyst, Center of Emissions Excellence - S&P Global Energy
- Hideki Ochiai - Vice President, Sustainability, ESG Promotion Department, Japan Airlines
- Kelvin Lee - Head Sustainability Asia-Pacific, IATA
- Hoang Anh Dung - Founder & CEO, INTRACO Carbon
- Zachary Kane - Senior Vice President, Oka
- Perumal Arumugam - Manager, Mitigation Division, UNFCCC
- Daovinh Soumphonphakdy - Deputy Director of GHG Mitigation Division, Department of Environment, Government of Lao People's Democratic Republic
- Leon Heng - Senior Managing Consultant, Policy & Strategy, South Pole
- Marshall Brown - Head of Carbon Finance Readiness, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)
- Jin Yaning - Trading and Finance Deputy Manager + 6.4 MEP member, SinoCarbon
Day 1
July 7
Since the introduction of carbon credits in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, their legal status within both voluntary and compliance markets has continued to evolve. Establishing legal certainty is essential to facilitate transactions and attract investment in this growing sector. The global nature of carbon markets, coupled with the absence of centralised governance, leaves the system vulnerable underscoring the urgent need for robust regulatory frameworks.
Moderator: Peter Zaman, Partner, HFW
Speakers:
This panel brings together leading Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area exchanges to explore how physical energy markets, environmental commodities and financial instruments support real economy decarbonisation. The panel will also examine how cross-regional collaboration, market interoperability and scalable mechanisms can accelerate China’s transition toward a low-carbon economy.
Moderator: Ken Chiu, Head of Carbon & ESG Products, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX)
Speakers:
Corporates across Asia are accelerating decarbonisation efforts to achieve net zero and strengthen long-term competitiveness. This panel will bring sustainability leaders together and discuss their climate transition journeys – from integrating decarbonisation strategies into mandatory ESG and climate reporting, to balancing risk and return and leveraging environmental markets – to meet sustainability goals and stakeholder expectations.
Moderator: Elaine Ng - International Affairs and Sustainable Finance, Securities and Futures Commission (SFC)
Speakers:
Facilitator: Nadine Lim
Introductory remarks: Dirk Forrister
What does it mean to be a member of IETA? Designed for curious, strategic organisations looking to join a global network of carbon market leaders, this session is an opportunity to gain insight into how members engage in IETA’s work, contribute to policy dialogue, and help shape market-based climate solutions.
Facilitator: Kajol Tandon, IETA
Speakers:
This session will discuss the latest around digital tokenisation and other digital improvements in the market.
Moderator: Kishor Rajhansa - COO, Global Carbon Council
Speakers:
Session 1: PACM Value Proposition and Participation Pathways: Readiness
to Implementation
Session 2: Multi-Stakeholder Panel: How Governments, Project
Developers, Financial Institutions, and Regional Partners are participating
in PACM
Session 3: Interactive Q&A and Reflections
This session will provide an overview of the latest Article 6 and CORSIA label guidance in the VCS Program, updated to streamline the process for requesting and applying these labels. Participants will have the opportunity to engage with Verra representatives, gain practical insights into the new guidance, and better understand how to position projects to participate in these important markets.
As Article 6 and CORSIA move from policy to implementation, this session explores the digital infrastructure needed to enable trusted cross-border carbon transactions. Industry leaders will discuss dMRV, registry interoperability, authorization tracking, tokenisation, and transparent transaction systems that can connect governments, registries, airlines, investors, and carbon markets across Asia.
Day 2
July 8
Facilitator: Hendrik Rosenthal - Director of Group Sustainability, CLP
Key Speakers
Facilitator: Dirk Forrister - President & CEO, IETA
Presenter: Benjamin Horton - Dean, School of Energy and Environment (SEE) - City University of Hong Kong
Asia requires more than US$1.1 trillion in climate finance annually yet faces an estimated US$800 billion funding gap. As businesses rethink what sustainable growth really means, this session explores a central question: how do we unlock the capital required for meaningful change to create a sustainable future? We will explore how emerging environmental markets and blended financing models are shaping the next era of corporate climate transition in Asia.
Moderator: Dirk Forrister - President & CEO, IETA
Speakers:
There is increasing emphasis on product-level accounting, particularly focusing on the production of fuels with CDR credits as a strategy for achieving deeper decarbonisation at the product level. This session will explore approaches to operationalise this in the voluntary markets, leveraging accounting standards designed for global application. We will discuss ways to adapt these instruments so the combined product could be used for carbon reduction claims within sector-specific jurisdictions, such as CORSIA and IMO.
Part 1: CCS+ & MoU Signing
Panelists
Part 2: Using CDR as a Lever to De Risk Investment
Panelists
Building high-integrity carbon at scale requires more than standards - it demands integrated systems that align land use, capital, and long-term stewardship. This session examines how landscape-scale strategies can unlock credible, investable carbon opportunities, bringing together development finance, corporate buyers, and practitioners to understand what it takes to deliver at scale.
Moderator:
Speakers:
As emerging markets across the region launch new carbon pricing instruments, how do we ensure environmental policy instruments (CPIs) are effective and well-designed to support green growth? Focusing on Southeast Asia, this session will explore new carbon taxes, emissions trading system (ETS) pilot developments, early-stage implementation challenges, and the critical role of the private sector in ensuring effectiveness and credibility.
Moderator: Baran Doda - Senior Carbon Market Expert, ICAP
Speakers
Direct air capture, biochar, enhanced rock weathering (ERW) and other novel carbon removal approaches are moving beyond pilots and seeing significant premiums in the carbon market - but the scale remains limited. This session examines what it will take to deploy technology-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR) at commercial scale in APAC, by enhancing methodological approaches and strengthening long-term demand signals.
Moderator: Kajol Tandon - IETA India Representative, IETA
Speakers
As geopolitical tensions rise and priorities shift, the durability of climate commitments is under pressure. Some countries have stepped back from the Paris Agreement, while compliance carbon markets face growing uncertainty over political support and ambition. Against this backdrop, China’s commitment to its climate goals is firm. China’s ETS continues to expand—moving toward an absolute cap, increasing auctioning, and covering key emitting sectors. This panel will examine the resilience of China’s decarbonisation pathway, its potential role in supporting international cooperation through Article 6 and Belt and Road initiatives, and what lies ahead for carbon markets in China.
Moderator: Zhibin Chen - Senior Carbon Market Expert, ICAP
Speakers
Rapid expansion of Artificial Intelligence is accelerating the growth of data centers across Asia, resulting in a sharp increase in energy demand. As governments and corporations pursue their decarbonisation targets, the region faces tough trade-offs. This session explores how to power this infrastructure with clean energy, minimise environmental impacts using carbon markets, and maximise AI’s potential to support climate solutions.
Moderator: Pauline Wray - CEO & Co-founder, Emerald Climate
Speakers
Separate paid ticket required for entrance, purchased online in advance of the party. Tickets are sold on a first come, first serve basis.
Day 3
July 9
Join us for a session celebrating the leadership and growing impact of women in carbon markets across APAC and beyond. This workshop offers a space to connect, share experiences, and build community among professionals driving climate solutions. As carbon markets expand and diversify, promoting visibility and inclusion is essential for shaping a more equitable and effective climate finance landscape.
Facilitator: Andrea Abrahams - Senior Advisor, VCM, IETA
Panelists:
This session explores China’s growing role in the global carbon market. It examines how stronger linkages between China and international partners can accelerate market development and effectiveness. Focusing on policy coordination and regional cooperation, the discussion highlights practical pathways to build aligned, high‑integrity markets that deliver real emissions reductions worldwide in the years ahead.
Moderator: Ken Chiu - Head of Carbon & ESG Products, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX)
Speakers:
This session will explore how to scale high-integrity voluntary carbon markets in Asia, highlighting what credit buyers are looking for, and the work of The Coalition to Grow Carbon Markets. Panelists will discuss current risks, key trade-offs, and evolving buyer expectations, and what is required to build trust, credibility, and impact at scale.
Moderator: Andrea Abrahams - Senior Advisor, VCM, IETA
Speakers
As the EU CBAM has entered its definitive phase, countries in APAC are bracing for impact. This session examines the moving parts of EU policy development impacting compliance costs overseas, while also addressing issues with trust, data sharing, MRV and green competitiveness, overall influencing the region's policies and response.
Moderator: Alistair Ritchie - Director of Asia-Pacific Sustainability, Asia Society Policy Institute
Speakers
While Hong Kong provides robust financial infrastructure, its true strength lies in its ecosystem's ability to originate, verify, and trade high integrity carbon credits internationally. This session will showcase real world case studies of Hong Kong based companies successfully developing carbon mitigation projects abroad , proving that Hong Kong is the optimal launch pad for global carbon enterprises looking to scale in Asia.
Part 1: Moderated Panel Discussion
Part 2: V Carbon Case Study: PNG Project Deep Dive
Part 3: Official Joint Implementation Accord Signing Ceremony: Asia Carbon Institute & National Science and Technology Development Agency.
Moderator:
Speakers:
NSTDA signing representative:
As pressures from deforestation, land use change, and ecosystem degradation intensify, the potential to scale high integrity NCS continues to grow. This session examines how the evolving political and regulatory landscape is reshaping forest finance pathways, from carbon markets to blended finance models, in delivering credible climate and biodiversity outcomes.
Moderator: Pedro Barata, Associate Vice President, Carbon Markets and Private Sector Decarbonization – Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Speakers:
As carbon markets expand, so does the complexity of measurement and reporting. From the GHG Protocol to SBTi and emerging corporate and national frameworks, companies face a fragmented landscape of approaches. This breakout will explore how to navigate the jungle of carbon measures, align accounting standards, and strengthen credibility across markets and value chains.
Moderator: Alexandru Popa - Associate Director, Schneider Electric
Speakers
As the world advance toward broader CORSIA participation, this session spotlights the latest progress on national implementation and airline preparedness. Speakers will unpack updated credit eligibility rules, shifting procurement strategies, and the market signals shaping supply, demand, and pricing as the scheme expands. This session delivers clear insights into the policies and trends defining Asia’s aviation decarbonisation landscape in 2026 platforms.
Moderator & Scene Setting Presentation: Aaron Tam - Director - Market Data, Sylvera
Speakers
With Article 6 and the new Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism becoming operational, this session will explore how we move from rulemaking towards real transactions. Discussion will cover authorisation processes, high-level links to CORSIA, and emerging leadership from countries such as Singapore and South Korea in shaping early market activity.
Moderator: Björn Fondén - International Policy Manager - APAC Lead, IETA
Speakers
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