Green-led recovery

Can we build environmental protection and climate change initiatives into our local and national measures to meet the challenge of the financial crisis? The answer must be a resounding 'yes', but we need to demand such an outcome.

The authorities want to create jobs through government spending. An easy thing to do would be to speed up public-sector projects. This is happening. It would be a pity if rushing projects meant that there was a lack of proper planning, and opportunities were missed to ensure that those projects are environmentally sustainable and climate friendly.

For example, by requiring environmentally sound and low-carbon initiatives to be included at the planning stage, the authorities would be pushing for a change in the industry as a whole.

Requiring materials used in all construction projects to be more environmentally and climate friendly would promote a new practice that would have longer-term benefits.

By insisting that all buildings constructed by the public sector be energy and water efficient, and healthy for the occupants, Hong Kong may produce a new generation of high-performance buildings. This is something our building professionals could do if they were asked to.

It would be a pity if the message from the top was just about speed, because this is more likely to lead to shoddy workmanship. The reality is that, by demanding quality, jobs will be created along the value chain, as well.

It would be taking a very narrow view if the focus is just on construction jobs. These workers can do a good or bad job, depending on a number of factors. One construction worker once told me that he did not control whether a project was environmentally friendly because he did not make any of the decisions on design, the materials to be used or how the construction site was organised to reduce waste. However, he said he would feel better if he knew these things had been taken into consideration.