Greening International Financial Centers: The Political Economy of Green Finance Development in Asia

Ka Chun (Ray) Yung

Amid escalating climate and environmental crises, green finance has emerged as a key mechanism for mobilizing capital toward low-carbon and sustainable transformation. Serving as intermediaries that facilitate financial transactions and exchanges, international financial centers (IFCs) function as central nodes that sustain financial flows and connect regional financial actors and institutions to the global financial system. Yet, existing green finance research has primarily focused on major political economies, and IFCs remain underexamined despite their critical roles. This dissertation compares how Hong Kong and Singapore – two leading Asian IFCs – have developed their green finance markets under divergent historical-institutional and socio-political conditions. Drawing on financial history, political economy, and sociology of finance, it conceptualizes IFCs as key financialized (small) economies constituted by institutions, professionals, and infrastructures. The analysis focuses on actors’ preferences, interests, and power relations, and the processes through which green finance markets are constructed and contested. Methodologically, the study adopts a comparative qualitative design, combining archival research, policy document analysis, and semi-structured interviews, to illuminate the developmental dynamics, governance capacities, and market reactions shaping the development of green finance.