How high-density, high-rise Hong Kong uses green buildings to help fight climate change
Published: 6:06pm, 13 Nov, 2019
Hong Kong has lots of multi-owned buildings. It’s hard to get so many different owners to spend money. Regulations are therefore extremely important to driving the energy efficiency of existing buildings Cary Chan, executive director, Hong Kong Green Building Council.
Those people who have lived here long enough might remember that things did not seem to be as bad in the past.
The city’s increasingly high-density, high-rise environment of streets flanked by tall buildings has created what is known as a “canyon effect”, which can influence temperature change and lead to a vicious cycle where the hotter the surroundings become, the more residents turn up their air conditioners and release warm air outdoors.
However, there is a bigger picture: urban activities are the major sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The world’s cities are believed to be responsible for 75 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions, with transport and buildings two of the largest contributors, the UN Environmental Programme reports.
These are problems that non-profit Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) is trying to tackle by promoting the development of sustainable buildings in Hong Kong.
Buildings have a huge impact on the environment – accounting for 39 per cent of global energy emissions, 50 per cent of global material use and the annual use of 42.4 billion tonnes of materials.
Hong Kong’s property development, which comprises 42,000 buildings, including about 8,000 high-rises – of which more than 1,500 are skyscrapers exceeding 100 metres in height – consumes up to 90 per cent of the city’s electricity and contributes to 60 per cent of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions.
It serves as a platform for the exchange of ideas about making Hong Kong’s buildings greener and as a source of information on global best practices for architects, developers, the construction industry, the government and the public.
One such resource was the World Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2017 held in Hong Kong, which saw 1,800 industry professionals, academics, green building advocates and policymakers from 55 nations discuss green building problems affecting their locales.
HKGBC also works with stakeholders to create practical, Hong Kong-centric solutions to cut the city’s carbon emissions and help it meet climate change targets set out in the Paris Agreement, where nations pledged to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change such as keeping global temperature rises within 1.5 degrees Celsius (34.7 degrees Fahrenheit).
It recently committed to Advancing Net Zero, a World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) charter, which aims to promote and support the acceleration of net-zero carbon buildings – those that emit near zero carbon by reducing energy consumption, improving energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy coupled with the decarbonisation of Hong Kong’s electricity supply.
“We’re talking about government commitment, country commitment and industry commitment,” says Cary Chan, executive director of HKGBC and vice-chair of WorldGBC’s Asia Pacific Regional Network.
“We need to have a lot of campaigns, so people understand what they have to reduce their emissions by.”
Chan previously spent 30 years working in the commercial sector, most recently managing sustainability for Swire Properties, including instigating consultations on One Taikoo Place, one of Hong Kong’s most energy-efficient buildings, which is certified Platinum under HKGBC’s green building standard, BEAM Plus.
Wong Kam-sing, Hong Kong government’s Secretary for the Environment, says the government is fully behind the charter.
“Green building is a very important solution to decarbonise in Hong Kong,” Wong says.
Ada Fung, director of WorldGBC and a director of HKGBC, says of the charter’s target: “We need to get new [buildings] there by 2030. For all other existing buildings, the target is 2050.”