Roles to Achieve Carbon Neutrality - Resources Recovery and ESG Are Two Sides of A Coin

Ir Dr Keith LAI

Senior Environmental Protection Officer, Environmental Protection Department

Abstract

: In the past decade there had been a paradigm shift in the Government’s waste management strategy, from a traditional to the waste-to-resource approach that views waste as a valuable resource, one that can bring about sustainable benefits and help build a circular economy in Hong Kong. To this end, the Government has built a number of resources recovery facilities to transform waste into material and energy resources. Meanwhile, companies also see the need to adhere to ESG standards in their business operations in order to develop business sustainability in a more holistic manner. Whilst companies may enjoy environmental as well as financial benefits brought by ESG, they may find it technically difficult, and in many instances, financially costly to tackle some material factors related to carbon emission under the environmental pillar. Typical examples are sourcing of recycled materials to replace virgin raw materials and circulation of materials back into economy, avoid them ending up in landfills. In this connection, Government's resources recovery facilities are there to help. In this presentation, Y·PARK, a government yard waste recycling centre, will be used as an example to enunciate how resources recovery facilities of the Government can facilitate companies to achieve some of the ESG targets on carbon emission, and how the public and private sectors can work hand in hand to build a circular economy towards the long term goal of carbon neutrality.

Biography

Dr Lai is a Senior Environmental Protection Officer of the Environmental Protection Department. Before joining the EPD, Dr Lai had been a post-doc fellow in Canada and the US, and a consultant in Hong Kong. In addition to his academic background in Chemical and Civil Engineering, Dr Lai also has experience in pollution control, waste treatment and recycling technologies. Since the onslaught of the super typhoon Mangkhut in Sep 2018, Dr Lai has been engaged in development of yard waste recycling facilities in order to promote utilization of yard waste resources.