2023-02-22
[Press Release] Hong Kong Green Building Council’s Response to 2023/24 Budget
Hong Kong, 22 February 2023 – The Hong Kong Green Building Council (the Council) welcomes the Financial Secretary’s 2023/24 Budget released today. The Council will support the Government's green and sustainable development strategies and continue to lead the industry to enhance the standard and facilitate the development of a sustainable built environment in Hong Kong, striving to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
International Centre for Green Technology and FinanceThe Council is delighted to see the Government actively building Hong Kong into an international centre for green technology and finance, seizing the opportunities brought by our country's dual carbon strategies, leveraging our strengths under "One Country, Two Systems" and as an international financial centre, and strengthening the training of green and sustainable finance talents to enrich the green finance ecosystem of Hong Kong.
The Council supports the Government to set out the following initiatives to further facilitate the development of green and sustainable finance:
- To issue $15 billion of retail green bonds, enhancing the public awareness towards green consumption and green lifestyle.
- Set up a Green Technology and Finance Development Committee to formulate an action agenda covering green technology, green finance, green standard certification, etc. An International GreenTech Week will be organised at the end of this year.
- Proceed in five directions, including building a green technology ecosystem to attract top-notch enterprises or start-ups to set up their operations, green finance application and innovation, green certification and alignment with international standards, training for talents; and enhancing the exchange and co-operation with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and international markets. The Council has been committed to enhancing the exchange with cities in GBA and actively promoting the green building development. A large-scale conference, “Greater Bay Area Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2022”, was held last year to promote sustainable development and carbon neutrality in the Greater Bay Area. The Council has also signed two memorandums with Greater Bay Area recently, one for Cooperation on Retro-commissioning and another for Cooperation on Building Energy Saving Retrofit.
BEAM Plus, certified by the Council, has long been the standard of green building projects in financing. By reflecting the projects’ environmental performance level, BEAM Plus ratings can greatly enhance investors’ confidence. The Council will actively explore to participate in the "Green Technology and Financial Development Committee", in the hope to contribute our experience in BEAM Plus and to provide professional advice on green assessment.
Green Building and Application of Innovative Technology
The Council is delighted to see the Government initiated the following measures, strengthening the promotion of innovative technologies in the construction industry and promote the use of Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) to improve energy efficiency and advancing the goal of net zero:
Green Building and Application of Innovative Technology
The Council is delighted to see the Government initiated the following measures, strengthening the promotion of innovative technologies in the construction industry and promote the use of Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) to improve energy efficiency and advancing the goal of net zero:
- To earmark $15 million for studying and putting in place measures to strengthen the supply chain of the Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) modules.
- To conduct a study on the construction of the first advanced construction industry building at a site of about three hectares in Tsing Yi, carrying out planning and preliminary design work as well as advising on its mode of operation.
Green City
The Council welcomes the Government to set out an additional $62 million for food waste collection to cover more premises, and extending the food waste collection trial scheme for public rental housing estates. The Council also supports the new funding initiatives on new energy transport to turn the electric vehicle and electric public transport to be more accessible.
Waste management and electric vehicle charging facilities have always been included in the assessment of BEAM Plus. The new measures by the Government can help reduce carbon emissions and waste, create a healthy living environment, which further enhances Hong Kong to become a green city.
Hong Kong is making vigorous efforts to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050. The Council welcomes the Government to form the Council for Carbon Neutrality and Sustainable Development to advise the decarbonisation strategies. Existing buildings take up a very large proportion of local current building stock which offers massive potential for energy savings, mainstreaming retrofitting becomes more important. As a bridge connecting the public, the industry, and the Government, HKGBC will continue to raise the awareness of green buildings, energy saving and carbon reduction by promoting BEAM Plus and Green Product Certification, while promoting retro-commissioning and retrofitting to the industry. The Council has launched Hong Kong’s first Retrofitting Guidebook earlier this year, hoping to help the industry plan and enhance the energy efficiency of existing buildings, reduce carbon emission to create a greener building environment for Hong Kong, and achieve the carbon reduction target.
The Council welcomes the Government to set out an additional $62 million for food waste collection to cover more premises, and extending the food waste collection trial scheme for public rental housing estates. The Council also supports the new funding initiatives on new energy transport to turn the electric vehicle and electric public transport to be more accessible.
Waste management and electric vehicle charging facilities have always been included in the assessment of BEAM Plus. The new measures by the Government can help reduce carbon emissions and waste, create a healthy living environment, which further enhances Hong Kong to become a green city.
Hong Kong is making vigorous efforts to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050. The Council welcomes the Government to form the Council for Carbon Neutrality and Sustainable Development to advise the decarbonisation strategies. Existing buildings take up a very large proportion of local current building stock which offers massive potential for energy savings, mainstreaming retrofitting becomes more important. As a bridge connecting the public, the industry, and the Government, HKGBC will continue to raise the awareness of green buildings, energy saving and carbon reduction by promoting BEAM Plus and Green Product Certification, while promoting retro-commissioning and retrofitting to the industry. The Council has launched Hong Kong’s first Retrofitting Guidebook earlier this year, hoping to help the industry plan and enhance the energy efficiency of existing buildings, reduce carbon emission to create a greener building environment for Hong Kong, and achieve the carbon reduction target.
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About the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC)
The Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) is a non-profit, member-led organisation established in 2009 and has become a public body under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance since 2016. The HKGBC strives to promote the standard and development of sustainable buildings in Hong Kong. The HKGBC also aims to raise green building awareness by engaging the government, the industry and the public, and to develop practical solutions for Hong Kong’s unique, subtropical built environment of high-rise, high density urban area, leading Hong Kong to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and to become a world’s exemplar of green building development. The Founding Members of the HKGBC include the Construction Industry Council (CIC), the Business Environment Council (BEC), the BEAM Society Limited (BSL) and the Professional Green Building Council (PGBC).
To learn more about the HKGBC, please visit www.hkgbc.org.hk.
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Locus Communications Limited Claudia LO Phone: (852) 9560 1518 / 9505 0517 Email：claudialo@locuscomm.com |
Grace NG Phone: (852) 9842 7022 Email：graceng@locuscomm.com |
Hong Kong Green Building Council Head of Marketing Heidi HUI Phone: (852) 3994 8833 Email：heidi.hui@hkgbc.org.hk |
Marketing & PR Executive II Jill CHEUNG Phone: (852) 3994 8843 Email：jill.cheung@hkgbc.org.hk |