How Hong Kong can become an environmentally responsible, carbon-neutral city

Hong Kong should revolutionise its building codes, to enable owners and developers to innovate
Beyond that, we should be investing 2 per cent of our annual GDP to achieve a net-zero carbon economy, generating returns from green initiatives to attract developers and investors

Dennis Lee

Published: 6:45am, 10 Feb 2022

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It is good civic behaviour to use fewer plastic bags or recycle used cans and bottles, as producing less plastic waste and recycling is the right thing to do. But is such responsible behaviour helping to “save the environment”, as some slogans suggest, or is it just a feel-good deed with limited positive impact?

The idea of environmental consciousness has been around for the past four decades since the World Commission on Environment and Development introduced the concept of “sustainability” in 1987. Thirty-five years later, the world is still tiptoeing around creating environmentally friendly societies.

The challenge always hinges on the state of social development and available resources. Developing countries’ highest priorities are providing food, clean water and reliable transport and civic infrastructure, much less worrying about being sustainable.

For developed countries, transformation often involves doing away with the old. Stakeholders need to justify the value in destroying what is already functional and profitable.

If any developed city could achieve such a monumental task, it should be Hong Kong. Our city is famous for its collective knowledge, skills and efficiency, not to mention being the gateway to mainland China, which is advancing rapidly in technological and infrastructure development from 5G and digital payment systems to solar panels and maglev railways.

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Maglev train for air rail rolls off assembly line in China

The transformations on the mainland have been vast, but what has Hong Kong achieved in the same period? Other than some promotional rhetoric, it has done practically nothing, other than asking shops to charge 50 cents for a plastic bag and proposing various commercial and domestic waste disposal charging schemes, with the implementation of the latter still unrealised.

How can we start making significant environmental positive impacts? We need to look no further than what Hong Kong is made of: countless residential and commercial towers that define our skyline and fill our urban core.

Does anybody remember the Zero Carbon Building? Was it not meant to demonstrate what could be achieved and inspire developers, designers and engineers to build with a sense of environmental responsibility?

Advertised as the first zero-carbon building in June 2012 by the Construction Industry Council, have we seen a second one in the past 10 years?

Buildings account for about 28 per cent of operational carbon emissions and 11 per cent of embodied carbon emissions, totalling close to 40 per cent of global energy-related carbon emissions, according to the World Green Building Council. If we can build responsibly, we can take huge steps in achieving a carbon-neutral society.

Last April, the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) organised the Advancing Net Zero Ideas Competition, with real project sites and objectives and calling for architects, engineers and professionals to contribute viable and visionary ideas in achieving carbon neutrality in buildings.

Unlike most conventional design competitions, the award ceremony and exhibition of entries were not the end of the quest.

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The HKGBC has invited participants to a post-competition engagement to refine ideas and strategies on achieving zero carbon and ultra energy efficiency, to limit embodied carbon emissions throughout buildings’ life cycle, and to develop occupational health, well-being, and a sustainable built environment.

The competition – largely unknown to the general public – represents a giant step in the right direction that benefits society as a whole.

As we learned from the competition, the biggest hurdle might not be the technical know-how but how to overcome our stringent building codes and regulations, when owners and developers struggle to innovate within the statutory parameters.

Our current building codes date back several decades with minor revisions over the years. There have been baby steps but no overhaul in catching up to today’s development needs and the technology available to streamline design and construction.

The Henderson, a commercial building developed by Henderson Land Development, is seen under construction in the Central district of Hong Kong on January 24. The city’s stringent building codes and regulations mean owners and developers often struggle to innovate within the statutory parameters. Photo: Bloomberg

Famed urbanist Jane Jacobs once defined the two syndromes of human civilisations as the “guardian” and “commerce”. The guardian is the government, whose primary purpose is to preserve and protect the public. Commerce is the everyday exchange of values between individuals, companies and organisations in the form of currency.

While commerce should not see the guardian as the enemy and understands its job to be sceptical of new ideas and standards, the guardian should be open-minded to recognise positive effects of innovations that improve public safety and the common good.

Other than revolutionising our building codes, how much would a carbon-neutral vision cost? Yuval Noah Harari wrote in a recent Time magazine article that we could achieve a net-zero carbon economy – a “totally feasible project” in his words – if we invested 2 per cent of our annual global GDP.

The keyword is “invest”. This means the amount is not a giveaway but would generate returns from green initiatives, which should attract developers and investors. How much is 2 per cent of Hong Kong’s annual GDP? We are talking about HK$53 billion (US$6.8 billion) annually, a substantial amount but certainly manageable if collectively supported by the makers of Hong Kong.

The real cost, other than investments, would be a collaborative and empathetic spirit. Perhaps for the first time, the Hong Kong government – with strong backing from the central government – could round up influential developers to achieve a common goal beyond profits and shareholders’ interests.

Dennis Lee is a Hong Kong-born, America-licensed architect with 22 years of design experience in the US and China

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