Hong Kong’s Green Talent: Rethinking Recruitment & Retention for the Future Workforce

Dr. Meike Sauerwein is a faculty in The Division of Environment at The Hong Kong Univeristy of Science and Technology (HKUST) and the academic lead of the HKUST Life Cycle Lab. Her research interests focus on environmental assessment of systems & products and consumption behaviours with focus on of circular systems. She teaches about Sustainable Consumption & Life Cycle Assessment and its applications in business, sustainable finance, and policymaking. Meike also leads the Sustainability Education Working Group across 8 campuses of the Hong Kong Sustainable Campus Consortium.

My Sustainability Goals for 2025:

1. Enhance people’s awareness about life cycle impacts and emissions that happen up and downstream of the products we buy.
2. Open people’s minds about the beauty and utility of circular systems and efficient resource use.
   Inspire people to test out new things and critically question how we can do better in handling human impacts on the environment.

Bon Cheung is an Assistant Manager of Civic Exchange, focusing on green and sustainable finance market development. He has obtained several professional designations, such as the SCR Certificate from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP), and Green and Sustainable Finance Professional™ from the Chartered Banker Institute (CBI). Moreover, Bon has engaged and published plenty of impactful academic research on green finance development in GBA. Apart from academic development, He has also been invited to be panellist and guest lecturer for talks and lectures in Master level courses related to green and sustainable finance. With these achievements, he was recognised and nominated as one of the representatives of the HKUST to compete for the Oxford Green Finance Prize 2023.

My sustainability goals for 2024:

Bring Theory to Practise, Connect Stakeholders, Facilitate the Low Carbon Transition in the GBA.

Haily has extensive experience in the field of corporate sustainability, including disclosures, strategy development, and stakeholder engagement. At Swire, she advises on key policies and developments related to sustainability and supports the implementation of the Group’s sustainability strategy, SwireTHRIVE, with a focus on managing water and supply chain impacts. She also manages the Group’s capacity building programmes and engagement strategy to further embed sustainability within the business.

My sustainability goals for 2024:

Enhance organisational sustainability fluency and literacy in support of SwireTHRIVE objectives.

Shruthe is a Renewable Analyst at Brawn Capital and one of the Founding Members of the Network of Environmental Student Societies (NESS). With her passion for climate change awareness and action, she has worked on a number of projects focusing on ESG and Circular Economy. She believes that Responsible Consumption and Production is the key to a more sustainable future.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

I would like to see continued symbiotic relationship between different industries in the city where they mutually benefit each other through efficient use of resources for the goal of sustainability.

Priscilla Lin is Strategy and Sustainability Manager at Schneider Electric Hong Kong, where she works with businesses and institutions to accelerate climate action through technology, collaboration and innovation. She leads sustainability initiatives locally and supports organisations in advancing their climate commitments and resilience strategies.

Before joining Schneider Electric Hong Kong, Priscilla advised companies on sustainability strategy, reporting and stakeholder engagement. Drawing on experience from both the corporate and non-profit sectors, she is a strong advocate for collective action and believes meaningful climate progress requires collaboration among businesses, governments and communities.

Priscilla has participated in COP26, COP27 and COP29 and continues to champion climate education, youth empowerment and community engagement.

My sustainability goals for 2026:

To foster greater collaboration across business, government and civil society, accelerating climate action and integrating sustainable development more deeply into policy, business decision-making and public discourse.