Award Categories
| Nomination Kit
| Special Citation on Green Financing
| Eligibility
| Online Submission Guideline
| FAQ
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Special Citation on Green Financing (newly added for GBA 2025)
Green financing gains heightened significance in fostering sustainable building innovations, practices and addressing climate change in Hong Kong’s built environment. It serves as a conduit for channelling funds into green building projects, enabling enhanced sustainability throughout the entire building lifecycle and improving overall environmental performance and effectiveness. This Special Citation honours distinguished projects that substantially contribute to driving decarbonisation and developing a sustainable built environment.
This Special Citation only applies to Finalists of Completed Projects of the New Buildings (NB) Category & Completed Projects of the Existing Buildings (EB) Category, and it may be bestowed to one or more Finalists/ Awarded Projects.
1. Submission Materials
A. Presentation Deck:
- In English
- In both PPT and PDF formats with a 16:9 aspect ratio (with each file size less than 50MB)
- Of maximum 15 slides, including the cover slide which should state clearly the Project Name.
B. Supplementary Information:
- Financing Documentation: Term sheets, prospectuses
- Third-Party Validation: Certifications, audits, or SPOs
- Impact Evidence: Project-specific pre/post-implementation data (energy, water, carbon, resilience or other related metrics)
- Related extracts from annual reports / financial statements
2. Submission Deadline
6:00pm on 17 September 2025 (Wednesday)
3. Timeline
| 17 Sep 2025 (Wed) at 6:00pm |
Submission Deadline of Materials |
| 30 Sep 2025 (Tue) |
Notification on Shortlisting Result |
| 13 Oct 2025 (Mon) |
Shortlisted Teams to present to Jury Panel
Presentation Format:
In-person / Online presentation in English (20 minutes + 10 minutes of Q&A), based on the presentation deck submitted.
There will be 3 Jurors in the Jury Panel.
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| 13 Nov 2025 (Thu) |
Result to be announced at the Award Presentation Dinner |
4. Confidentiality
Please mark sensitive data as confidential if needed. We respect that entries may contain information which deemed confidential. All submitted information shall only be used for evaluation by the Jury Panel and the Organisers shall seek consent from the finalists or awardees related to publishing permission for their entries.
5. Judging Criteria
Applicants should base on the Judging Criteria below to prepare for the 15-slide presentation deck. Please include any relevant images of the project, and cover as many mentioned indicators below as possible and as appropriate.
A. Judging Criteria on Project (60%)
| Criteria |
Key Indicators |
| 1. Scale and Quality of Green Financing (30%) |
- Nature and volume of green capital raised (e.g. green bond, green loan, sustainability-linked bond/loan, green REIT, transition finance, blended finance)
- % of total project cost covered by green finance
- Third-party verification (e.g. green loan/bond certification, SPO, auditor report)
- Alignment with recognised frameworks (e.g. HKMA Green Taxonomy, ICMA Green Bond Principles, ICMA Green Loan Principles, Common Ground Taxonomy, etc.)
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| 2. Impact on Net Zero & Climate Resilience (40%) |
- Quantified CO2e reduction enabled by financed initiatives (e.g. energy retrofits, renewable energy)
- Climate resilience outcomes (e.g. flood mitigation, nature-based solutions, heat island mitigation, water efficiency, etc.)
- Alignment with HK Climate Action Plan 2050 (e.g. renewable energy adoption, energy efficiency retrofit, waste/water innovation, climate-adaptive design, low carbon transport, etc.) or other applicable environmental objectives with reference to DNSH
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| 3. Innovation & Scalability (15%) |
- Use of novel / first-of-kind structures (e.g. blended finance, transition bonds, ESG-linked derivatives)
- Integration of green tech or green fintech (e.g. IoT for impact monitoring)
- Replicability of the model across Hong Kong’s building stock (e.g. cost effectiveness, policy alignment)
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| 4. Transparency & Reporting (15%) |
- Public disclosure of fund allocation and impact metrics through annual reporting or project website
- Communication or industry sharing of green financed initiatives
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B. Judging Criteria on Financial Instruments (30%)
| Criteria |
Key Indicators |
| 1. Market Innovation (40%) |
- Whether the financial instrument was issued/listed in Hong Kong
- Pioneering structure in HK context (e.g. first green REIT, resilience-linked loan, etc.)
- Addressing financing gaps (e.g. SME green retrofits, biodiversity funding)
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| 2. Impact Integrity (30%) |
- Robust impact measurement framework (e.g. science-based KPIs, independent verification)
- Clear penalties/incentives linked to sustainability targets (e.g. margin adjustments for SLBs)
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| 3. Market Influence (30%) |
- Catalysing further green finance activities (e.g. benchmark deals, market education)
- Enhancing HK’s position as a green finance hub
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C. Bonus marks for implementing Cross-Cutting Principles (10%)
| Criteria |
Key Indicators |
| 1. Additionality |
- Green financing which enables projects beyond business-as-usual
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| 2. Just Transition |
- Benefits for vulnerable communities (e.g. green jobs, community / tenant health & wellbeing)
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| 3. Lifecycle Approach |
- Funds directed toward circularity (e.g. low-carbon materials, adaptive reuse)
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| 4. Risk Management |
- Integration of physical/transition risks in financial structuring
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