The chief executive’s 2025 Policy Address, delivered on Sept 17, follows a familiar Hong Kong tradition: a long list of measures grouped by sector. This format risks obscuring the greater logic of the city’s climate and sustainability trajectory.
Yet if one steps back from the detail, a picture emerges of Hong Kong gradually repositioning itself as a hub for clean energy, environmental technology, and green finance. The challenge is not one of substance but of coherence: The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government must package its many commitments into integrated strategies that can be clearly promoted at home and abroad.
Hong Kong’s energy future is already outlined in the Climate Action Plan 2050, which commits the city to importing much more nuclear power from the Chinese mainland in the 2030s. That will make the city’s electricity supply far cleaner, providing the foundation for emissions cuts across every sector. But cleaner power will likely be more expensive. That makes energy efficiency in buildings and industry essential, both for climate reasons and to preserve the city’s economic competitiveness.
The government has pledged in this year’s Policy Address to accelerate carbon reduction in existing buildings, which account for roughly half of the city’s carbon emissions. Officials are beginning to explore new financing models, such as performance-based contracting, that could underpin a genuine retrofit strategy in the coming year.
Electrification is also moving forward. Electric vehicle sales are rising, and the government will launch a HK$300 million ($38.55 million) fast charger incentive program to deliver 3,000 new fast chargers by 2028. It is also supporting the development of battery-swapping technology for larger EVs, which could prove particularly efficient in a dense urban economy. Bus operators will be required to open their charging facilities to other vehicles, further broadening access.
Battery swapping should also be considered for electrifying harbor vessels — another policy area the government can explore in the coming year.
Concerning the city’s subway, the Policy Address refers to a “green, smart mass transit system”, with new rail lines to be built. The city’s rail operator already performs well, but new technology and artificial intelligence-enabled predictive maintenance, demand forecasting, and dynamic scheduling could drive further efficiency gains.
Hong Kong should package its commitments into integrated strategies — such as an energy and transport strategy, a buildings retrofit strategy, a circular economy strategy, and a green finance and technology strategy — each with a clear road map, measurable targets, and international messaging
The Policy Address points Hong Kong toward the next generation of transport fuels. A sustainable aviation fuel target will be set this year, with a local supply chain to follow. For shipping, Hong Kong aims to become a green bunkering hub, starting with methanol and expanding to hydrogen and ammonia, while cooperating with other ports to establish green shipping corridors.
There is a glaring omission: the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal. Cruise tourism is expanding, more cruise ships are equipped to plug in, and the terminal was built to install onshore power. Closing this gap by enabling the private sector to be invited into this piece of infrastructure and mandating cruise ships to plug in would reduce emissions and air pollution, while aligning Hong Kong with international best practices.
The Policy Address highlights AI as an economic growth sector but fails to connect it explicitly to climate and sustainability. This is a missed opportunity. AI can serve as the nervous system of Hong Kong’s green transition, optimizing building energy use, coordinating charging infrastructure, managing port logistics, enabling predictive control in mass transit, and reducing waste through more innovative material flows. Framing AI as a tool for resource efficiency would show that Hong Kong is serious about integrating digital intelligence with climate action.
On waste, the Policy Address reaffirms Hong Kong’s commitment to the zero landfill goal. The latest government data show progress: In 2023, municipal solid waste disposal fell by 2.2 percent, averaging 10,884 metric tons per day (down from 11,131 in 2022). Per-capita disposal dropped from 1.51 kilograms per day to 1.44 kg per day. Domestic waste fell by 1 percent, plastics by more than 10 percent, and food waste by 3.4 percent, while the overall recovery rate rose from 32 percent to 33 percent.
Infrastructure is scaling to support this trend. By late 2024, there were over 500 public recycling collection points, covering around 80 percent of the population, up from around 300 previously. Smart food-waste bins in public housing estates experienced rapid growth, with daily usage increasing nearly 70 percent from May through October 2024.
These improvements are positive, even though the waste-charging plan remains shelved for now. The omission weakens incentives, but the downward trajectory shows encouraging momentum.
The financial sector is intended as another pillar. The Policy Address calls for the expansion of the HKEX Core Climate platform, linkage with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area carbon markets, and the introduction of new voluntary carbon standards.
Yet the reality is underwhelming. Since its 2022 launch, the voluntary Core Climate platform has hosted only a handful of trades and remains small in scale. Earlier reports from the Financial Services Development Council outlined principles for Hong Kong to become a carbon-trading hub. But these ideas have not been translated into clear policy.
Beyond talk and studies, little has been done. In this area — unlike in energy, transport, or waste — progress remains stuck at the discussion stage.
That said, the push to develop carbon audit services noted in the Policy Address has potential. If properly implemented, it could become an exportable expertise, strengthening Hong Kong’s credibility in international green finance.
On the commercial side, the B&R Green Development Cooperation Platform, with a planned training center for 2026, indicates that Hong Kong is at least positioning itself to export green standards and tools. But here too, credibility will depend on rigorous standards and delivery, not just branding. Cooperation between government departments and professional bodies is essential to get it right.
The 2025 Policy Address, viewed holistically, provides the raw material for a strategy, such as retrofits of existing buildings; transport electrification, battery swapping, and hydrogen; green fuels for aviation and shipping, including onshore power and green corridors for shipping; zero landfill; AI as the backbone of resource efficiency; and green finance and carbon audit services to reinforce credibility. Taken together, these elements could be transformative. But as long as they are presented as isolated sectoral commitments, their narrative power is lost.
Hong Kong should package its commitments into integrated strategies — such as an energy and transport strategy, a buildings retrofit strategy, a circular economy strategy, and a green finance and technology strategy — each with a clear road map, measurable targets, and international messaging.
The 2025 Policy Address provides the pieces. The challenge is coherence. If the government can connect the dots into a unified vision, Hong Kong could legitimately brand itself as a hub for the climate-tech-finance economy.
The author is the chief development strategist of the Institute for the Environment at HKUST. She is a former undersecretary for the environment.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
