Australian Chamber urges bold steps from Government and Industry to shape Hong Kong’s direction towards a sustainable decarbonised urban future
Australian Chamber urges bold steps from Government and Industry to shape Hong Kong’s direction towards a sustainable decarbonised urban future
HONG KONG, 27 March, 2024 — The Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong (AustCham) has published a landmark document highlighting the vital role for both industry and government in decarbonising Hong Kong’s built environment. The Net Zero Playbook ‘Decarbonising Hong Kong’s Built Environment’ sets out the key challenges and next steps needed to position Hong Kong for a sustainable urban future with a goal of carbon neutrality before 2050.
Developed in collaboration with property services company Savills, the AustCham Net Zero Playbook was launched on Wednesday at an event attended by Hong Kong’s Commissioner for Climate Change Wong Chuen-fai and Chamber members and guests from right across the SAR’s built environment sector – from investment, planning and design, to construction, occupancy and management. The sector represents major employers and is a significant contributor to Hong Kong’s economy.
As Australia’s largest off-shore business community in Asia, AustCham members have long been contributors to the sustainable development of Hong Kong. Supported by the Chamber’s Construction, Property and Infrastructure Committee, in November 2023 AustCham initiated presentations and discussions with industry, in partnership with the Hong Kong Green Building Council and the Business Environment Council, to share the opportunities, challenges and priorities for decarbonising Hong Kong’s built environment, and develop a Decarbonisation Roadmap. The Net Zero Playbook summarises the outcomes of the Decarbonising Hong Kong event and seeks to answer what the next steps should be, highlighting six key areas to work on: industry collaboration; retrofitting existing building; data transparency; green certification; education and alignment of valuation mechanisms and incentives to drive investment.
AustCham Chair, Josephine Orgill said, “working towards a viable solution to achieve carbon neutrality is ever more critical and it’s important that we, as a Chamber, can facilitate constructive ways for our members to contribute creative ideas to help Hong Kong achieve the goals set out in the Hong Kong Climate Action Plan 2050. The key message from this publication is that Hong Kong has strong foundations to work from but it’s now vital that government and industry collaborate to meet the challenges and focus on the next steps especially around retrofitting, data transparency and green certification. I congratulate our AustCham members who are leading the way and invite companies across the built environment sector to join us to shape Hong Kong’s sustainable urban future.”
The Hong Kong Climate Action Plan 2050 was released in October 2021. Since then, leading organisations have contributed expertise and industry support for decarbonising Hong Kong’s built environment, including the Hong Kong Green Building Council and Business Environment Council. To support the transition, the finance sector is moving to facilitate the flow of green and sustainable investment, with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority reviewing the implementation of a local green taxonomy and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange seeking market feedback on their proposal to enhance climate-related disclosures under its environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework.
In November 2023, AustCham’s Construction, Property and Infrastructure Committee spearheaded an initiative to bring together expertise from across Hong Kong and the wider world – from government, the private sector and academia - to put together a clear road map for this key sector to work towards decarbonising Hong Kong’s built environment.
Co-Chair of AustCham’s Construction, Property and Infrastructure Committee and Asia Managing Director of Turner & Townsend, Brian Shuptrine said, “This publication is an important call for action. We need to maintain momentum of further collaborative action to drive positive outcomes and actively shape Hong Kong's built environment.”
AustCham’s Net Zero work was developed by a working group of industry professionals, including Lizette McNeill, Managing Partner of Decarbonisation, Engineering and Advisory Firm IXO Partners, who added, “Last year’s event was a fantastic showcase of international experience and local expertise but ultimately scratches the surface of the monumental journey ahead of us.”
The Decarbonising Hong Kong: Roadmap to a World Class Metropolis event was supported by Event Partners: Hong Kong Green Building Council and Business Environment Council and companies including Link Asset Management Limited, Sino Group, Turner & Townsend, Savills and EY.
The Net Zero Playbook has identified and highlighted Hong Kong’s strong foundations that can be leveraged to implement the challenges of decarbonisation of the built environment:
- Authority: Government leadership, ambition, strategy and plans.
- Practitioner expertise: Architects, construction, engineering and surveying.
- Academia: Excellence in education and research.
- Finance: Global financial expertise.
- Instruments: Green building certification and technology.
- Experience: leading local and regional exemplars.
- Construction: co-ordinated cross-industry participation.
Where to from here?
‘Decarbonising Hong Kong: Roadmap to a World Class Metropolis’ concluded that collaborative action is required across the built environment sector and recommended and identified six (6) key challenges and next steps:
- Mainstream sustainable practices by fostering industry collaboration.
- Encourage retrofitting of existing buildings through regulations and incentives.
- Support data transparency to drive informed decision making.
- Use green certification to scale up decarbonisation.
- Address education and awareness to unlock incentives and utilise green financing.
- Alignment of valuation mechanisms and incentives to drive investment and capital allocation.
These actions require the commitment and drive from all major stakeholders in the built environment including business leaders, government policymakers and academia. AustCham is calling on individuals and organisations in support of this agenda to step forward and push for positive and long-lasting change, through clear-cut actions and wide-reaching communications.
If you would like to be part of this initiative, please contact Stefanie Evennett, Chief Executive of The Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong on stefanie.evennett@austcham.com.hk
A copy of the research findings is available on AustCham Hong Kong’s website here
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Notes
The November 2023 ‘Decarbonising Hong Kong: Roadmap to a World Class Metropolis’ event saw an audience of over 120 leaders from the Hong Kong construction and built environment sectors and speakers from across Government, academia and the private sector share the opportunities relating to a low carbon economy, identify priorities for invesment and jointly develop a built environment decarbonisation roadmap for Hong Kong.
Speakers at the November 2023 Decarbonising Hong Kong: Roadmap to a World Class Metropolis:
- Diane Wong - Under Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Government of HKSAR
- Simon Ng - CEO, Business Environment Council
- Russell Fortmeyer - Global Sustainability Leader, Woods Bagot & US LEED Fellow
- IR Dr Cary Chan – Executive Director, Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC)
- Eddie Tse – Head of Sustainability, Gammon Construction
- Steve Lewis - Partner - Head of Infrastructure, Major Programmes and Construction Advisory, EY
- Julian Bott - Managing Director, APAC, Cundall
- Hannah Jeong - Head of Valuation & Advisory, Colliers
- Melanie Kwok - General Manager Sustainability, Sino Group
- Dr. Ronald Lu - Founder & Chairman, Ronald Lu & Partners
- Grace Kwok - Chairman and Executive Director, Allied Sustainability and Environmental Consultants Group Limited (AEC Group)
- Professor Linda Chelan Li - Professor of Political Science at the Department of Public Policy, City University of Hong Kong
- Ir Sr Jonathan Lee - Deputy Managing Director, Technical, Safety and Sustainability (TSS), Savills
- Ir Mr. Colin Hong - Director of Engineering (HK), Link REIT