(24 February 2021, Hong Kong) The Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) welcomes the Financial Secretary’s initiatives on green and sustainable finance, decarbonisation and waste reduction favourable to create a healthy living environment in the 2021/22 Budget released today.
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Green and Sustainable Finance
The Council welcomes the Government in encouraging institutions to conduct green and sustainable relevant investment, financing and certification activities; planning to issue green bonds regularly and expanding the scale of the Government Green Bond Programme. Thereby the initiatives further enrich the green finance ecosystem in Hong Kong as well as strengthen Hong Kong’s position as a premier green and sustainable hub in the region.
The Council will continue to encourage green bond issuers to participate in BEAM Plus assessment for third-party certifications on building projects’ environmental performance, which would greatly enhance the attractiveness of green financial instruments.
Decarbonisation and Waste Reduction – Creating a Healthy Living Environment
The Council supports the Government to set out the following initiatives to reduce carbon emissions and waste, and to create a healthy living environment, for pushing forward green living and building a sustainable city.
- To set aside $150 million to conduct energy audits and install energy-saving appliances, free of charge, for NGOs subvented by the Social Welfare Department;
- To earmark $1 billion as subsidies for buildings with relatively low rateable values to carry out drainage repair or enhancement works;
- To set aside an extra $1 billion for government buildings and infrastructure to install additional small-scale renewable energy systems;
- To inject an additional funding of $1 billion to the Recycling Fund for fostering local recycling activities;
- To encourage the replacement of conventional fuel-propelled private cars with electric vehicles (EVs) by launching “One-for-One Replacement” Scheme and setting up EV charging-enabling infrastructure.
The HKGBC is looking forward to the update of the Clean Air Plan for Hong Kong by the middle of this year to set out long-term goals and strategies to reduce carbon emissions. The Council has been continuously working with the Government and leading the industry to accelerate the decarbonisation of Hong Kong’s built environment and move forward to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
To learn more about the HKGBC, please visit www.hkgbc.org.hk.
