News & Events

Hong Kong, 26 February 2020 - The Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) welcomes the Financial Secretary’s initiatives on development of decarbonisation and green technologies, promoting the use of electric vehicles and green finance in the 2020/21 Budget released today. 

HKGBC’s responses on the proposed initiatives are as follows:

The HKGBC welcomes the Government in setting up a $200 million Green Tech Fund to support R&D and application of decarbonisation and green technologies, and the sharing of R&D findings for low-carbon transformation and enhance environmental protection in Hong Kong. The Council has been supporting the Government’s Hong Kong’s Climate Action Plan 2030+ announced in 2017 and the long-term decarbonisation strategy. Last year the Council also committed to World Green Building Council’s Advancing Net Zero project which promotes market transformation towards 100% net zero carbon buildings by 2050. The Council will apply the funding for relevant R&D projects as well as encourage the industry to make good use of the newly developed green technologies in their development projects for carbon reduction. The Council will also continue to promote BEAM Plus, the Hong Kong’s leading initiative to offer independent assessments of building sustainability performance, in fostering Hong Kong’s green building development. 

The Council supports the launch of $2 billion pilot scheme which aims to subsidise the installation of charging-enabling infrastructure in eligible car parks of private residential buildings, with a view to facilitating the installation of chargers by owners of individual parking spaces. The BEAM Plus new building and existing building tools have been encouraging housing projects to provide charging facilities for electric vehicles by including this element into one of the scored aspects. The Council believes, under the new funding by the Government, electric vehicle charging facilities will be more accessible which will assist people in adopting a greener lifestyle.

HKGBC welcomes the issue of green bonds totaling $66 billion within the next five years from the Government to further consolidate and develop Hong Kong’s position as a premier green hub in the region. HKGBC encourages green bond issuers to participate in BEAM Plus assessment for third-party certifications on building projects’ or assets’ environmental performance, which would greatly enhance stakeholders’ confidence and the attractiveness of green financial instruments.

HKGBC is delighted to see the Government’s continuous investment in infrastructure projects with a view to building a better city and improving quality of life. The Council is now developing an assessment tool for green infrastructure projects, and encourages Government and industry’s adoption so as to improve the credibility of green infrastructures in Hong Kong.

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The Hong Kong Green Building Council Limited (HKGBC) is a non-profit, member-led organisation established in 2009 with the vision to aspire for quality and sustainability at every stage of the building life cycle and embrace these principles as a mark of excellence. The Founding Members of HKGBC include the Construction Industry Council (CIC), Business Environment Council (BEC), the BEAM Society Limited (BSL) and the Professional Green Building Council (PGBC). Its mission is to lead the market transformation to a sustainable built environment in Hong Kong by guiding the development of industry standards, best practices, education, and research in Green building.