BEC Climate & Nature Theatre

Concrete & Canopies: Integrating Nature, Infrastructure, Development and Planning

11 Sep (Fri) Day 2 : 11:45 – 12:35

Full Programme
BEC Climate & Nature Theatre

As climate and nature risks intensify, cities and developers are looking beyond concrete alone. Nature-based Solutions (NbS), from restored wetlands to green corridors to living shorelines, offer a powerful complement to traditional drainage, coastal, and slope infrastructure. This session explores how to invest in nature as infrastructure, with a spotlight on Hong Kong as a case study. Learn where NbS are already working, how to evaluate them alongside grey assets using cost-benefit analysis, and how businesses can utilise these solutions to mitigate risk, reduce long-term costs, and build resilience into their operations and developments.

Session Learnings:

  •  Investing in nature as infrastructure: Frameworks for evaluating Nature-based Solutions alongside traditional engineered assets
  • The Hong Kong lens: Insights on where NbS are already working locally and where opportunities or gaps remain
  • Business opportunities in resilience: How companies can utilise NbS to mitigate climate risk and reduce long-term costs
  • From assessment to action: Approaches for moving from climate risk analysis to NbS implementation
  • Unlocking investment: Pathways for public-private collaboration and financing mechanisms for NbS

Post-Event Actions:

  •  Ask yourself whether any of your assets or locations could benefit from a nature-based approach
  •  Consider which physical risks (flooding, heat, slope instability) are most relevant to your portfolio
  • Explore potential NbS partners such as government bodies, NGOs, or developers
  • Think about how you might begin framing a business case for NbS within your organisation

Speakers

Sophie le Clue

ADM Capital Foundation

CEO

Sophie has worked for 30 years in the field of environmental protection and conservation, principally in the Asia Pacific region. She joined ADMCF a year after its founding in 2007, as director responsible for developing the Foundation’s environmental programme. Today, ADMCF focuses almost solely on environmental issues regionally, while maintaining some legacy children at risk projects. Its four strategic programmes include : Acting for Climate, Living Oceans, Water, Wildife Trade. In late 2021, Sophie stepped into ADMCF’s CEO role .

My Sustainability Goals for 2026:

I hope to see the Administration embracing Hong Kong’s environmental challenges to ensure our well being and a healthy environment. This will require setting aspirational goals as well as policy enhancements and reform across a broad range of environmental issues.

Speaking at 2026 sessions:

Day 2

Concrete & Canopies: Integrating Nature, Infrastructure, Development and Planning

Marine Thomas

The Nature Conservancy Hong Kong Foundation Ltd

Associate Director of Conservation

Marine Thomas is Associate Director of Conservation for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Hong Kong. She is responsible for overseeing TNC’s marine conservation projects on the ground, with a current focus on restoring natural habitats, community-based conservation, and developing sustainable livelihoods as nature-based solutions. Marine is also restoration ecologist specializing in estuarine ecosystems. Over the past 8 years, she has been developing restoration methods, evaluating ecosystem services, developing innovative conservation finance and advocating for policy changes that support widespread restoration efforts in Hong Kong’s waters.

My Sustainability Goals for 2026:

I would like to help Hong Kong develop a high-integrity ecotourism policy

Speaking at 2026 sessions:

Day 1

Designing with Nature-based Solutions (NbS): Towards an Ecological and Healthy City

Day 2

Concrete & Canopies: Integrating Nature, Infrastructure, Development and Planning

Ir. Sui Ping Chow

North Development Office, Civil Engineering and Development Department, CEDD

Chief Engineer/North 4

Ir CHOW Sui-ping is a Chief Engineer of the North Development Office, Civil Engineering and Development Department, delivering the San Tin Technopole, which is the flagship project of the Northern Metropolis with a total area of about 600 hectares, to increase the supply of innovation and technology land for Hong Kong as well as create a new community for quality, healthy and green living. Ir CHOW also spearheads key initiatives like nature-based solutions and urban-rural integration, overseeing development of relevant guidelines and piloting implementation in the San Tin Technopole.

Ir CHOW received his BSc degree in civil engineering from The University of Hong Kong in 2004 and his second BSc degree in laws from The University of London in 2008. He is a professional engineer with over 20 years of experience in delivering infrastructure projects and formulating policies and had been working in Development Bureau, Civil Engineering and Development Department, Drainage Services Department, Highways Department and Building Technology Research Institute.

My Sustainability Goals for 2026:

We build to make Hong Kong a world-class sustainable and resilient city for living, working and playing

Speaking at 2026 sessions:

Day 2

Concrete & Canopies: Integrating Nature, Infrastructure, Development and Planning

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