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Liquidity Crunch – Investment, Business, Water and Climate Change

9 November 2011 Hong Kong



Speakers at the Panel: Wai-Shin Chan, Director, Climate Change Strategy, Asia Pacific, HSBC (Left), Debra Tan, Director, China Water Risk (Middle) and Isabel Hilton, Editor, China Dialogue (Right)

With Special Thanks to British Consulate-Generale Hong Kong for Providing the Venue

Event Invitation:
http://www.asria.org/news/events/1320204984

Media Coverage on South China Morning Post: http://topics.scmp.com/news/china-business-watch/article/Business-caught-in-grip-of-mainland-water-crisis

 
Event Summary
Special thanks to British Consulate-General for providing the venue and congratulations to China Water Risk for their recent launch and for partnering with us on this special event.

The event was at full capacity, and we apologize to those on the waiting list who could not attend the discussion.

The event started with a warm opening from Karen Bell, Deputy Consul-General of British Consulate-General who has been a long-time supporter in the climate change efforts across the region. Rebecca Mikula Wright, General Manager of ASrIA moderated the event starting with a quick snapshot on the three speakers of the day.

Wai Shin Chan, Director of Climate Change Strategy of HSBC, gave the tour for the investor side of the liquidity crunch. He reminded us of the fact that climate change drivers impact the entire economy. He explained that there is significant room for improvement in due diligence in China to keep business operations clean and profitable in the long term. He advised investors to ask questions on water policies before investing in businesses in China to understand the risk and precautions to municipalities and industry.

Next, Wai Shin highlighted the importance of externalities associated with investment projects by projecting China’s growth and connecting it with resource scarcity (land, energy, food and water) in relationship with urbanization. A part of this would be reflected in the upward pressure of the cost of water, along with food supplies and energy. In China, where rice is the main stable food, and agriculture takes up most of water usage, investors should factor in this cost and take a proactive role in collaborating and innovating ways to cope with water scarcity and, equally important, water mismanagement and the knock-on effects in the region.

Debra Tan, Director of China Water Risk, described a large part of the liquidity crunch with detailed visuals about water. Parts of China, notably the Southwest, enjoy abundant water supply, but Debra stressed supply is falling due to climate change and retreating / drying water resources which only accounts for 2.5% of the Earth’s water. Some 300 million rural Chinese lack access to clean, drinkable water and in 2030, water supply due to mismanagement and other issues will be more pronounced.

Although there has arguably been more attention to a company’s carbon footprint, a firm’s water footprint is no less important. Debra used her daily intake of Latte to illustrate the amount of water used to create one espresso shot. In addition, hydropower, she argued, causes strain to the downstream systems. This impact, while often begins in Southwestern China, also affects nearby countries, including India to Thailand.

The last speaker Isabelle Hilton, Editor of China Dialogue , talked in depth about Earth’s “Third Pole” or the enormous Tibetan plateau. As mega projects East of the Himalayas have been completed and generate hydro-power throughout Eastern China, future projects are beginning to use good practice based on the learnings from the past decade. However, Isabelle struck a cautionary note when describing the practice of building these huge dams along major fault lines, where seismic activity has been reported Isabelle also cited the noticeable changes in climate in this area, in the heart of Asia, and the less reliable patterns of rainfall related to rising temperatures.

A lively Q&A followed the speakers' presentations.

Sincere thanks to British Consulate-General for their venue support, to China Water Risk, and to audience participants for making this event such a success.

Presentations

 www.chinawaterrisk.org

 Debra Tan, Director, China Water Risk
(Open to all)
Isabel Hilton, Editor, China Dialogue
(Member only)
List of Attending Institutions
  1. ADM Capital
  2. ANZ Banking Group
  3. Asia Business Council
  4. Asia Clean Capital
  5. Avantage Ventures
  6. Avillion Hotel Group
  7. AXA Investment Managers
  8. Bloomberg
  9. Carbon Care Asia
  10. Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN)
  11. China Europe Bio-Energy Consortium
  12. Civic Exchange
  13. CLP Holdings
  14. Credit Suisse
  15. Earthwatch Institute
  16. Ecopoint Ltd
  17. Environmental Investment Services Asia
  18. F&C ASSET MANAGEMENT ASIA LTD
  19. Friends of the Earth
  20. GreenLink Global
  21. Hennes & Mauritz (Far East) Ltd
  22. New Day
  23. Private Equity Gateway
  24. Quintal Partners
  25. Redress
  26. Revelation Capital Advisors Limited
  27. SGS HK Ltd
  28. South China Morning Post
  29. Sowers Exchange
  30. Standard Chartered Bank
  31. Sterling Private Management Limited
  32. Tmi
  33. WSP Environmental & Energy


Wai Shin Chan, Director of Climate Change Strategy of HSBC on “Climate Change and China's Rising Water Risk”


Debra Tan, Director of China Water Risk on “Liquidity Crunch the Big Picture”


Isabelle Hilton, Editor of China Dialogue on “Third Pole, Water Stress in North China, Energy & Water Crunch, Pollution and Governance”
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