Climate Resilience and Adaptation Approach for Hong Kong Businesses

Laurence Delina, an Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, specialises in sustainable development with a focus on rapid mitigation of climate change, accelerating sustainable and just energy transitions, and adaptation and resilience of vulnerable populations to climate extremes. He has authored over fifty peer-reviewed journal articles and four books on these topics. Laurence serves as an associate editor for Energy Research & Social Science, PLOS Climate, and the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences. He has worked as a consultant on energy and climate issues for the United Nations, Oxfam, and Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. Laurence has previously been a Rachel Carson Fellow and a Visiting Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. He received his PhD from the University of New South Wales Sydney.

My Sustainability Goals for 2024:

1. Incorporating adaptation of vulnerable populations into official climate policy
2. More discussion on adaptation finance, especially beyond insurance
3. More focus on vulnerable populations on their climate adaptation needs

Background & professional expertise

Nicolette has been working in the insurance industry as a Technical Property and Natural Hazards Risk Engineer since 2008 and joined Zurich UK in 2013. In 2020 Nicolette joined the Climate Resilience Team and in April 2024 moved to Australia where she heads up the APAC Climate Resilience and Sustainability Team.

In her resilience role, Nicolette have had extensive involvement with assisting customers both nationally and globally to understand the physical impact of climate change and associated extreme weather events on their businesses and provide guidance on climate adaptation and resilience measures required to protect business, people, processes and infrastructure.

Languages

English (native), Afrikaans (native)

Selected Publications

Zurich Climate Resilience and Maersk: 2023

https://www.zurich.com/en/commercial-insurance/services/climate-resilience

Wall Street Journal 2023:

https://www.livemint.com/weekend/how-an-insurer-helps-a-shipper-stay-above-water-11685709334472.html

My Sustainability Goals for 2024:

A greater awareness of the impact climate change has on organisations.
Improvements in investment in climate adaptations to ensure sustainable resilient organisations.

With nearly 20 years of experience, Eileen works with multinational companies to address climate change. She specializes in improving business strategy to consider how climate change and its solutions affect society, the environment, and the economy.

Eileen directs BSR’s advisory and grant-funded work where climate intersects with human rights and equity, inclusion, and justice. She also supports companies with climate risk and scenario analysis, emissions reduction targets, and net-zero roadmaps. Eileen is BSR’s climate lead in the Asia-Pacific region, where she analyzed how climate change affects vulnerable nations, its people, and global supply chains.

Prior to joining BSR in 2017, Eileen served as a sustainability consultant, supporting companies on sustainability strategy development, strategic stakeholder engagement, and environmental management. While working at a public policy organization, she gained experience in international development, climate policy analysis, and effective communications.

Eileen holds a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Connecticut.

Jingwei is an Associate Director of ESG Research at Sustainable Fitch, based in Hong Kong. As part of Fitch’s global ESG research team, Jingwei conducts fixed-income investment research across key ESG themes within APAC and globally. Her research encompasses sustainable labelled debt markets, carbon markets, technologies to sector decarbonization, natural capital, and circular economy. She also frequently engages with investors and industry associations regarding recent market development, regulations and sectoral trends that are relevant to sustainable finance, with a particular focus on APAC and Greater China.

Jingwei joined Fitch Ratings in 2019. She holds a M.A. from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in the U.S.

My Sustainability Goals for 2024:

More awareness and actions around financing climate adaptation
Improving energy efficiency of buildings in Hong Kong

Michael joined New World Group as the Head of Sustainability leading the Group in shaping the next evolution of their ambitious sustainability agenda. Michael enjoys many aspects of the role and its challenges, from advising on responsible investment approaches and sustainable finance options to reimagining business products and services in a climate changed world and aligning social value creation to business decision-making.

Michael possesses over 28 years of experience in sustainability and environmental management across a range of industry sectors in Asia, Australia and the United Kingdom. In his prior role, Michael was the Head of Sustainability and Foundation in Asia at Lendlease and more recently delivered its first Mission Zero Roadmap, WELL Health Safety Rating across its office portfolio and helped secure its Regional and Sector leadership in GRESB across its REIT and Funds portfolio.