Rethinking Sustainability Skills: Bridging Education and Industry

12 Sep (Fri) Day 2 : 12:30 – 14:15

Full Programme
Roundtable A

As Hong Kong accelerates its sustainability transformation, a critical need has emerged to develop and enhance specialised skills across the workforce. This timely roundtable brings together sustainability learners, corporate leaders, and educators to address the urgent challenge of building sustainability capacity across sectors.

Participants will engage in focused discussions examining how sustainability learning journeys intersect with industry needs in Hong Kong’s unique context. Through structured dialogue between professionals pursuing sustainability education, organisations implementing sustainability initiatives, and institutions delivering education, this session aims to generate actionable insights for all stakeholders.

The roundtable features a dynamic format of expert presentations followed by facilitated table discussions, ensuring diverse perspectives are heard and innovative solutions are captured.

Learnings

  • Understand evolving sustainability skill requirements from multiple perspectives
  • Identify key gaps in current capacity building approaches
  • Discover emerging best practices in sustainability education and professional development
  • Build connections across the sustainability talent ecosystem

Post-Event Actions

  • Apply insights to enhance sustainability training and education programs
  • Develop collaborative approaches to address identified skills gaps
  • Connect with potential partners for sustainability capacity building initiatives
  • Implement specific strategies to advance sustainability skills within your organisation

Speakers

Anthony Cheung

GHG Protocol

GHG Protocol Independent Standards Board Member

Anthony Cheung is Managing Director and Head of ESG at one of Asia’s largest multi-manager investment platforms, where he oversees ESG integration and sustainable investment strategies. With over 20 years of experience in asset management across Europe and Asia, he served at renowned institutions including Gartmore, Pictet, and BNP Paribas.

As the first Certified ESG Analyst (CESGA) in Asia, Anthony has served on the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) Supervisory Board, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Stakeholder Council, and the CFA Institute ESG Technical Committee. He contributes to climate governance as a board member of Friends of the Earth (HK) and the Hong Kong Institute of Directors.

Recognized by the 2019 Regional ESG Leader Award by Insights and Mandate, Anthony actively advocates for advancing science-based, implementable climate accounting and sustainability reporting frameworks in Asia. Anthony is a Fellow of CPA Australia and based in Hong Kong

Speaking at:

Day 2

Transition Planning In Action: A Co-Creation Workshop Rethinking Sustainability Skills: Bridging Education and Industry

Serena Mak, CESGA CPA (Aust.) FRM

DBS Bank (Hong Kong)

Executive Director, Sustainable Finance

Serena is currently working as Executive Director in the Sustainable Finance team within the Institutional Banking Group of DBS Hong Kong.

Prior to DBS, Serena was the Head of ESG Funding Asia for Home Credit, an international consumer finance provider that focuses on responsible lending to people with little or no credit history.

Serena also has over 15 years of experience with Goldman Sachs treasury and market operations in Singapore and Hong Kong, with focus on liquidity management and payment transaction surveillance across the APAC region.

Ms. Mak is also serving as Board Governor & Honorary Secretary at Friends of the Earth (Hong Kong) with a focus on Green and Sustainable Finance development in Asia.

Ms. Serena Mak holds both MSc Investment Management and BBA (Hons) from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Speaking at:

Day 2

Rethinking Sustainability Skills: Bridging Education and Industry

Amos Tai

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dr. Amos P. K. Tai is a Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Amos obtained his B.Sc. from MIT, Ph.D. from Harvard, and was a Croucher Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT before joining CUHK in 2013. He specializes in atmospheric chemistry and physics, and ecological climatology. His research addresses pressing issues concerning climate change, air pollution, sustainable forestry, and food system transformation. His work has earned him numerous accolades, including the World Meteorological Organization Research Award for Young Scientists, the Research Grants Council Early Career Award, the Science Faculty Young Researcher Award, and founding membership in the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences.

Amos is also a passionate educator, having received the CUHK Vice-Chancellor Exemplary Teaching Award and the Faculty of Science Exemplary Teaching Awards. He currently serves as the Associate Director of the Office of University General Education. In addition, he actively promotes environmental and sustainability education for the public and regularly provides consultations to government agencies and NGOs. He is currently a board member of Friends of the Earth (HK) and the Cedar Foundation. In recognition of his professional contributions and public service, Amos was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Hong Kong in 2024.

My Sustainability Goals for 2025:

  1. Hong Kong’s food systems to be transformed to become more environmental sustainable and socioeconomically equitable
  2. Hong Kong’s public and private sectors as well as civil society to fully embrace climate action and sustainable development as their core value and direction

Speaking at:

Day 2

Rethinking Sustainability Skills: Bridging Education and Industry

David Ting

Friends of the Earth (HK)

Senior Director, Strategy in Future Communications, CISCO; Green Finance Advisor,

David Ting is the Senior Director, Head of Strategy at Cisco’s Network Platform and Wireless business. He leads teams that specialize in new market launch, corporate development, business transformation and analytics. Outside of work, David is an advisor to the Green Finance team at Friends of the Earth (HK).

With two decades of professional experience in Asia, North America and Europe, David managed international expansion and transformation projects in MNCs, served as CFO in a startup, and in corporate development roles leading M&A, post-merger integration, IPO and capital raising projects in B2B, SaaS, e-commerce and consumer internet industries. David started his career in investment banking and private equity.

David is fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese and is knowledgeable in computer networking (CCNA), front-end web development, and cloud computing.
David acquired his BBA from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and MSc from the London School of Economics. He is an EFFAS Certified ESG Analyst, a GRI Certified Sustainability Professional, an ACCA Member, and have completed all levels of the CFA examination and the FRM examination.

Our Sustainability Goals for 2025

  1. Government incentives and regulation concerning sustainability.
  2. Collaboration between government, business, and civil society.

Speaking at:

Day 2

Rethinking Sustainability Skills: Bridging Education and Industry

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