The Research Salon on “Achieving Carbon Neutrality by 2050” was successfully held on 6 May 2022. We are honoured to have the following three distinguished speakers at the event:
- Ms Karen Ho, Head of Corporate and Community Sustainability, WWF-HK (Presentation file)
- Prof. Christine Loh, Chief Development Strategist, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Presentation file)
- Dr Stephen Wong, Senior Vice President and Executive Director, Public Policy Institute, Our Hong Kong Foundation Limited (Presentation file)
The Research Salon was hosted by Prof. Eric Chui, Head of Department of Applied Social Sciences and Co-Director of Policy Research Centre for Innovation and Technology (PReCIT) at PolyU. Prof. Chui addressed that carbon neutrality has been one of the most important social issues we have had to tackle. In light of this, Prof. Christopher Chao, Vice President (Research and Innovation) and Director of PReCIT at PolyU was invited to give an introductory remark on the establishment of PReCIT. Prof. Chao briefed the audience the PReCIT’s aspiration of being a leading research centre in Hong Kong and the region with an influential voice on the development strategy and related policies in the field of innovation and technology. He also mentioned that “carbon neutral cities” has been one of the PReCIT’s research directions.
Firstly, Ms Karen Ho was introduced to deliver a speech on how to drive Hong Kong towards a net zero situation. Ms Ho elaborated her view by giving examples of Corporate actions as well as individual actions and call to action for building a sustainable future. Afterwards, Prof. Christine Loh presented a policy perspective on achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Prof. Loh outlined four key points of her policy perspective, which included a global revolution for carbon neutrality, the challenge of getting out of fossil fuels, the role of government and importance of having the right policy, and Mainland China matters (mitigation, adaptation and biodiversity). Lastly, Dr Stephen Wong delivered a speech on solving for zero and industry perspective on green buildings.
The speakers shared their invaluable insights on how to achieve carbon neutrality in the short term as well as for the future. A discussion session was followed. Please click here for online review.
