2026-05-11
HKGBC’s Recommendations to Legislative Council Sub-group 2 Industrial Development and Innovation & Technology on Hong Kong’s Work to Actively Dovetail with the National 15th Five-Year Plan
In response to the request for views and suggestions related to industry development and innovative technology under the Subcommittee on Hong Kong’s Work to Actively Dovetail with the National 15th Five-Year Plan (the Plan), the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) submitted the following suggestions in promoting green building technology development towards achieving carbon neutrality as well as supporting the export of green building professional services to overseas market:
1. Integrating innovation and technology uptake into green building policy
To align with the Plan to support the development of Hong Kong into an international innovative technology centre, it is timely to introduce further measures that incentivise the uptake of green technology in the built environment. Building-related activities in Hong Kong account for over half of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions. Green-certified buildings therefore play a crucial role in energy savings and climate change. Hong Kong's strengths in promoting green buildings are largely based on its robust international systems, unique legal framework and deep pool of professional talent. Despite the availability of technologies such as smart energy management systems, building-integrated photovoltaics, and AI-driven predictive maintenance, etc., their market adoption remains limited due to split incentives, high upfront capital costs and uncertain payback periods.
To accelerate green technology deployment, we recommend to embed green technology incentives within green building policy. This may include encouraging projects to adopt pre-approved green technologies, particularly those developed together with Chinese Mainland partners and/or validated through pilot programmes. We further suggest to designate urban renewal zones and new development areas, such as the Northern Metropolis, as “Green Living Labs”, where partnerships among developers, universities and greentech startups are actively supported through measures such as land premium adjustments, gross floor area concessions or expedited approval processes.
The Government is formulating a Generalised Green Framework for the Planning of New Development Areas (the Framework), which will guide bureaux and departments in their planning and design work. We understand that “Green infrastructure and buildings” is one of the guiding principles within the Framework. HKGBC is actively promoting its "Climate Change Framework for Built Environment" and other relevant guidebooks such as “Guidebook for Sustainable Built Environment”, “Hong Kong Circular Built Environment Guidebook”, etc. These resources support a systematic approach to sustainable, liveable and resilient building design. We recommend that the Government should incorporate these guidelines into the Framework, thereby encouraging both public and private sectors to adopt them to enhance design quality and operational performance.
The Government may consider to mandate and encourage the adoption of our green building assessment tools and related schemes, such as BEAM Plus, CIC Green Product Certification, HKGBC Zero-Carbon-Ready and Net Zero Energy Building Certification, in the land sale conditions of new development areas. Such requirement should apply not only at the design stage but also during operation stage. Land leases could specify that occupied buildings undergo regular re-certification to ensure ongoing green performance. We also recommend that Government buildings and public housing should take the lead in adopting these requirements, serving as exemplars for the private sector. With the Government setting a strong example, the private sector are likely to follow suit. With these comprehensive measures in place, Hong Kong’s new development areas, including the Northern Metropolis, can become the showcase of green, healthy and carbon-neutral communities to the Chinese Mainland and international partners.
Successful uptake of green technologies depends not only on their availability but also on the capacity of designers, contractors and operators to integrate, operate, and maintain them effectively. Capacity building for technology-integration specialisation, together with the development of implementation guidelines and standardised specifications for technology procurement and performance guarantees, are therefore essential. With extensive experience of working with the Greater Bay Areas (GBA) partners and overseas counterparts in jointly developing guidelines, standards and capacity building programmes on climate change and green buildings related subjects, the HKGBC stands ready to support the demonstration, validation, and wider adoption of green technologies in the built environment.
2. Promoting green building assessment tools and professional services
To echo the Plan’s support for Hong Kong to participate in promoting professional services to the Belt and Road (B&R) countries, the Green Development Co-operation Platform (the Platform) set up by the Government will serve the purpose. We recommend to make strategic use of the Platform to promote our green building assessment tools and related schemes, i.e. BEAM Plus, CIC Green Product Certification, HKGBC Zero-Carbon-Ready and Net Zero Energy Building Certification, as well as to showcase our professional services, including green building design, green building rating consultancy, and green property management to Chinese Mainland partners and overseas counterparts.
To further strengthen the international promotion of our schemes and services, we should work closely with the Chinese Mainland partners, in particular those in the GBA, to attract more of their projects to adopt Hong Kong’s green building assessment tools and related professional services. The Government may consider to allocate additional resources and establish new funding mechanisms in enabling green building-related professional organisations to conduct capacity-building programmes, helping overseas project teams to adopt Hong Kong’s green building assessment tools and related services, supporting local green building-related companies to expand into the B&R markets through developing brands, upgrading and restructuring operations and promoting sales, helping green building-related SMEs to participate in export promotion activities, etc.
Besides, the HKGBC has over the years been supporting the Government in driving the market to accelerate carbon reduction in existing buildings, through promoting energy saving initiatives, such as retro-commissioning and retrofitting, which are critical components of the decarbonisation pathway. Apart from publishing local guidelines and conducting related capacity building programmes, we have been working with the GBA partners to develop relevant guidelines and programmes in the GBA areas, which may serve as the platform for promulgating to broader perspectives of the B&R markets.
We recommend the introduction of a government-led building energy efficiency label to enhance building owners’ awareness of current performance levels and future improvement potentials of existing buildings. By clearly indicating the building’s energy performance, the label would motivate owners to invest in suitable enhancement measures, improve transparency in energy performance of the building, and serve as a useful reference for prospective buyers or tenants. Over time, it is expected that energy performance rating would become an integral factor in property valuation, with higher-rated buildings command premium sale and rental prices. We further recommend that the Government should promote innovative financing models to support high-cost building improvement and equipment replacement works. Demand for such works is rising due to decarbonisation needs and new global warming potential requirements for refrigerants. This would allow organisations to reduce energy consumption and utility costs while meeting sustainability goals. The successful financing models may then be deployed to the Chinese Mainland projects as well as relevant overseas investment.
1. Integrating innovation and technology uptake into green building policy
To align with the Plan to support the development of Hong Kong into an international innovative technology centre, it is timely to introduce further measures that incentivise the uptake of green technology in the built environment. Building-related activities in Hong Kong account for over half of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions. Green-certified buildings therefore play a crucial role in energy savings and climate change. Hong Kong's strengths in promoting green buildings are largely based on its robust international systems, unique legal framework and deep pool of professional talent. Despite the availability of technologies such as smart energy management systems, building-integrated photovoltaics, and AI-driven predictive maintenance, etc., their market adoption remains limited due to split incentives, high upfront capital costs and uncertain payback periods.
To accelerate green technology deployment, we recommend to embed green technology incentives within green building policy. This may include encouraging projects to adopt pre-approved green technologies, particularly those developed together with Chinese Mainland partners and/or validated through pilot programmes. We further suggest to designate urban renewal zones and new development areas, such as the Northern Metropolis, as “Green Living Labs”, where partnerships among developers, universities and greentech startups are actively supported through measures such as land premium adjustments, gross floor area concessions or expedited approval processes.
The Government is formulating a Generalised Green Framework for the Planning of New Development Areas (the Framework), which will guide bureaux and departments in their planning and design work. We understand that “Green infrastructure and buildings” is one of the guiding principles within the Framework. HKGBC is actively promoting its "Climate Change Framework for Built Environment" and other relevant guidebooks such as “Guidebook for Sustainable Built Environment”, “Hong Kong Circular Built Environment Guidebook”, etc. These resources support a systematic approach to sustainable, liveable and resilient building design. We recommend that the Government should incorporate these guidelines into the Framework, thereby encouraging both public and private sectors to adopt them to enhance design quality and operational performance.
The Government may consider to mandate and encourage the adoption of our green building assessment tools and related schemes, such as BEAM Plus, CIC Green Product Certification, HKGBC Zero-Carbon-Ready and Net Zero Energy Building Certification, in the land sale conditions of new development areas. Such requirement should apply not only at the design stage but also during operation stage. Land leases could specify that occupied buildings undergo regular re-certification to ensure ongoing green performance. We also recommend that Government buildings and public housing should take the lead in adopting these requirements, serving as exemplars for the private sector. With the Government setting a strong example, the private sector are likely to follow suit. With these comprehensive measures in place, Hong Kong’s new development areas, including the Northern Metropolis, can become the showcase of green, healthy and carbon-neutral communities to the Chinese Mainland and international partners.
Successful uptake of green technologies depends not only on their availability but also on the capacity of designers, contractors and operators to integrate, operate, and maintain them effectively. Capacity building for technology-integration specialisation, together with the development of implementation guidelines and standardised specifications for technology procurement and performance guarantees, are therefore essential. With extensive experience of working with the Greater Bay Areas (GBA) partners and overseas counterparts in jointly developing guidelines, standards and capacity building programmes on climate change and green buildings related subjects, the HKGBC stands ready to support the demonstration, validation, and wider adoption of green technologies in the built environment.
2. Promoting green building assessment tools and professional services
To echo the Plan’s support for Hong Kong to participate in promoting professional services to the Belt and Road (B&R) countries, the Green Development Co-operation Platform (the Platform) set up by the Government will serve the purpose. We recommend to make strategic use of the Platform to promote our green building assessment tools and related schemes, i.e. BEAM Plus, CIC Green Product Certification, HKGBC Zero-Carbon-Ready and Net Zero Energy Building Certification, as well as to showcase our professional services, including green building design, green building rating consultancy, and green property management to Chinese Mainland partners and overseas counterparts.
To further strengthen the international promotion of our schemes and services, we should work closely with the Chinese Mainland partners, in particular those in the GBA, to attract more of their projects to adopt Hong Kong’s green building assessment tools and related professional services. The Government may consider to allocate additional resources and establish new funding mechanisms in enabling green building-related professional organisations to conduct capacity-building programmes, helping overseas project teams to adopt Hong Kong’s green building assessment tools and related services, supporting local green building-related companies to expand into the B&R markets through developing brands, upgrading and restructuring operations and promoting sales, helping green building-related SMEs to participate in export promotion activities, etc.
Besides, the HKGBC has over the years been supporting the Government in driving the market to accelerate carbon reduction in existing buildings, through promoting energy saving initiatives, such as retro-commissioning and retrofitting, which are critical components of the decarbonisation pathway. Apart from publishing local guidelines and conducting related capacity building programmes, we have been working with the GBA partners to develop relevant guidelines and programmes in the GBA areas, which may serve as the platform for promulgating to broader perspectives of the B&R markets.
We recommend the introduction of a government-led building energy efficiency label to enhance building owners’ awareness of current performance levels and future improvement potentials of existing buildings. By clearly indicating the building’s energy performance, the label would motivate owners to invest in suitable enhancement measures, improve transparency in energy performance of the building, and serve as a useful reference for prospective buyers or tenants. Over time, it is expected that energy performance rating would become an integral factor in property valuation, with higher-rated buildings command premium sale and rental prices. We further recommend that the Government should promote innovative financing models to support high-cost building improvement and equipment replacement works. Demand for such works is rising due to decarbonisation needs and new global warming potential requirements for refrigerants. This would allow organisations to reduce energy consumption and utility costs while meeting sustainability goals. The successful financing models may then be deployed to the Chinese Mainland projects as well as relevant overseas investment.