Sustainable Resources Theatre

From climate change, renewable energy, education, to health and wellness, impact investing is emerging as a source of healthy financial returns as well as a means of making positive, measurable contributions to environmental and societal well-being. What is the state of play for impact investors, and how do we overcome obstacles and risks specific to Hong Kong and Asia?

Technology and sustainability are rapidly emerging as the driving forces reshaping our financial ecosystem. As green and sustainable finance gains increasing momentum, new technologies capable of analysing raw data to limit greenwashing and ensuring greater transparency and comparability of green credentials will be key to ensuring long-term and robust business transition.

As around the globe, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Hong Kong are looking to step up their contributions to the city’s green transition. However, a lack of financing has remained a key barrier for these players seeking to enhance their sustainability performance and capabilities. Adding to this are a lack of awareness and investor-readiness for green financial opportunities, information asymmetry between SMEs and financial institutions, as well as a limited range of sustainable financing products adapted to the needs of SMEs.

This session will examine how commercial built spaces contribute to achieving carbon neutrality in Hong Kong by 2050. Covering the entire building life cycle – from award-winning sustainable designs, latest developments in green construction materials, to the transformation, retrofitting and operation of existing building portfolios – exemplar cases will showcase holistic tactics for building towards net zero.

Green Buildings is a major decarbonisation strategy of Hong Kong’s Climate Action Plan 2050. This session will feature success cases to demonstrate how master planning, smart designs and MiC (Modular Integrated Construction) of neighbourhoods and residential spaces help escalate Hong Kong’s sustainability to the next level.

As educational and public buildings in Hong Kong begin to leverage resources to do their part in addressing climate change, the importance of low-carbon and sustainable campuses and governmental facilities for the health and development of their communities has never been more prominent.

Rethinking waste in the context of resource use and management incentivises all stakeholders to engage with the subject with greater positivity and creativity well before resources are used; thereby facilitating our transition to a circular economy. Within a circular economy framework, products and materials that might have held no value using a linear framework are reintroduced back into a productive value chain, for the betterment of the environment, economy and community health.

This is a critical time to support the recycling industry and empower operators to maximise the collection and processing of recyclable material, in light of the government’s goal of “Zero Landfills” by 2035. What role do small and large material recovery facilities play in realising the potential of informal collection and sorting recyclables? How can multi-stakeholder collaborations be optimised to collect and sustain clean and quality used PET bottles?

As part of Hong Kong’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050, the government has set targets to develop adequate waste-to-energy facilities, move away from reliance on landfills for municipal waste disposal, promote waste reduction and recycling, implement waste charging and regulate disposable plastic tableware in phases, amongst other policies.