The Great Debate: This House Believes Corporate Action and Individual Civic Duty, Not Policy Shifts, Are the Fastest Way to Achieve a Climate-Resilient Hong Kong

Former CEO of TEDxAmsterdamWomen, Helen has spent years leading large-scale professional productions while directly curating and coaching speakers to translate powerful ideas into high-impact, world-class TED talks with clarity, authority, and emotional resonance.

Now based in Hong Kong as Regional Director at Punch Presentations, Helen works with executives, high-performing teams, and event leaders across APAC. As an active public speaker and experienced moderator, she offers an insider’s perspective on stagecraft. Using a playful, learning-oriented approach, Helen coaches individuals and groups to master public speaking, sharpen their communication skills, and excel as captivating panel members and moderators. This results in presentations and discussions that are top-quality, authoritative, and high-impact.

My Sustainability Goals for 2026:

1) Raise awareness in every individual to live more consciously by knowing the impact their lifestyle has on the environment.

2) Provide actionable ideas on how to buy, use and dispose of food, packaging and household waste to turn awareness into long-term personal accountability

Professor Benjamin Horton is Dean of the School of Energy and Environment at City University of Hong Kong and a leading coastal scientist specializing in sea-level change. He has received major accolades from the European Geophysical Union, American Geophysical Union and Geological Society of America. Professor Horton is a Fellow of both the Geological Society of America and the American Geophysical Union. He served as a Review Editor for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report, has been a contributor to the Conference of Parties (COP), and is currently the Principal Investigator of UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development project, promoting global coastal policy through scientific leadership and interdisciplinary research.

Francis Ngai is the Founder and CEO of Social Ventures Hong Kong. Since 2007, he’s been dedicated to impact design for the future urban city. His social innovation portfolio includes Hong Kong’s first venture philanthropy fund, Community Resilience Fund, Green Monday, Bottless, RunOurCity, LightBe affordable housing, Playtao Education, HATCH women empowerment initiative, COMM-ON co-caring space, Institute of Community Making, and COMSMOS impact consultancy, among others. Through impact strategy consulting and building collective platforms for corporates, family foundations, and government departments—including Airport Authority HK, Urban Renewal Authority HK, Swire Trust, Rosewood Hotel, Cathay Pacific, Standard Chartered, HK Management Association and Energizing Kowloon East Office—SVhk is committed to creating integrated impact solutions across all sectors in the city.

Bay Meng Yi is the Director for Sustainability of the Singapore Environment Council (SEC), a non-government organization that catalyses action towards environmental sustainability via certification and policy advocacy.

Meng Yi oversees SEC’s green certification programmes and sustainability initiatives, supporting companies and communities in integrating sustainable practices into their operations and daily lives. He also leads policy research and international collaborations, advancing SEC’s work on sustainable consumption, circular economy and green trade.

Prior to joining SEC, Meng Yi spent over a decade in the public sector, where he was involved in the development and implementation of recycling and circular economy policies. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the National University of Singapore, and Master’s degrees from Columbia University and Tsinghua University.

My Sustainability Goals for 2026:

• Sustainability is not merely about protecting the environment; it is about building resilient systems that allow people, communities and economies to prosper for generations to come.
• My goal is to build resilient, people-centric recycling systems; they are built not just on technology, but on people. I would like to help communities co-design solutions that make recycling accessible and efficient for everyday life.
• Recycling does not begin at the bin; it begins with design. I hope to create systems to incentivize products and packaging to be designed for recovery, reuse and recycling.
• I hope to support SMEs in integrating practical sustainability approaches into their operations, from resource efficiency to better waste management, so that sustainability becomes both achievable and value-adding for smaller businesses.

AsiaGlobal Fellow 2025, 2021 Women of Power, 2019 GEN T Honouree, V Label Global Hero, and two-time TEDx Speaker: serial social entrepreneur and trends forecaster Sonalie Figueiras is a sustainability expert, food futurist, and eco-powerhouse who has been inspiring international audiences for over a decade with practical steps to combat climate change. Known globally as the Green Queen, she is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the award-winning Green Queen, the original impact media platform that educates millions about the link between food technology and climate change. She is also the co-founder and CEO of organic sourcing platform Ekowarehouse and climate tech SaaS Source Green. Additionally, Sonalie is a global keynote speaker, an advisor to multiple mission-driven startups and NGOs, and a venture partner and advisor to several venture capital funds.

Ivy Leung is the Executive Director of CarbonCare InnoLab (CCIL), an environmental charity dedicated to driving climate solution, community resilience, and sustainability education. Ivy leads organizational strategy centered on “climate justice” and “just transition,” connecting climate solutions with social services to protect vulnerable urban communities from the impacts of the climate crisis.

Bringing a versatile background across journalism, non-profit management, philanthropic grantmaking, and corporate social responsibility, Ivy has served at HandsOn Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, and Hang Seng Bank. This cross-sector experience underpins her approach to stakeholder co-creation, public engagement, and regional decarbonization strategies. She holds a Master’s degree in Cultural Management from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and a Bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism from Hong Kong Baptist University.

My Sustainability Goal for 2026:

• Enhance climate resilience of the communities