Climate Change Corner
Significance of Recent Low Carbon Economy Developments to Hong Kong and Its Construction Industry
While low carbon economy policy promulgated in the last two Chief Executive Policy addresses is a good start, much still needs to be done to transform the Hong Kong economy to a low carbon model. It is a top policy priority to stimulate and encourage innovation and investment, and to maintain and enhance Hong Kong’s reputation as a leading international city. The meaning, benefits and costs of a low carbon economy action plan for Hong Kong need to be articulated clearly and without delay. A comprehensive approach should be outlined quickly and then developed in details over time, and indeed prioritized, as resources allow. Equally, where there are economic or social costs in adapting to low carbon practices, Government should provide financial support during the transition period to mitigate any hardship.
The climate change agenda drives the low carbon economic transformation. While international climate negotiations grind on to move from the non-binding objectives of the Copenhagen Accord to a revised or new binding international climate treaty, Governments and private sector actors have been taking bold steps to move their economies and businesses to low carbon. While many of these activities have been led by industrialized countries and multi-national companies, there is a ground swell of action at small to medium enterprises and individual levels as well. As investment and consumer knowledge increases and behaviours change, carbon intensive services and products will become less and less acceptable. Indeed, legislation is beginning to target carbon intensive activities and to incentivise low carbon ones. In Hong Kong, the introduction of mandatory building energy efficiency codes is a good example. A further step that would change behaviour is mandatory greenhouse gas emissions disclosure which could initially be imposed on publicly listed companies in Hong Kong before being rolled out to the wider business community on the basis of emissions thresholds. Mandatory disclosure would help reduce if not eliminate carbon intensive economic activities, and more importantly, by focusing on the overall business of corporations, such disclosure would cover emissions created within and outside Hong Kong given a large part of Hong Kong’s industrial base is over the border in Mainland China.
The know-how and expertise of Hong Kong’s construction industry in project management and large-scale building and civil engineering developments is well known and successfully exported around the world like the projects in the Middle East, Macau and Mainland China. However, with the emergence of green and low carbon buildings and infrastructures, the position of Hong Kong’s construction industry is less assured. Although the industry can build capacity in green and low carbon construction through private sector initiatives, it is absolutely critical that the Hong Kong Government provides a clear policy and leads the development of green and low carbon buildings and infrastructures to give real impetus to developing Hong Kong into a leading centre for green building and construction. The Hong Kong Green Building Council, established in late 2009, is the obvious organization for the public and private sectors to work together to achieve this objective but considerable efforts will be needed from all stakeholders to ensure it is met within a three to five year timeframe, if not sooner.
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This article is contributed by Christopher Tung, Partner of K&L Gates with the co-ordination of the Environmental Division.