Opportunities and risks of implementing zero-carbon building policy for cities: Hong Kong case

Abstract

There is a worldwide policy agenda of reducing buildings’ carbon emissions. Zero-carbon building has emerged as an advanced model with policy support, but high-rise remains a knowledge gap. This paper aims to contribute a better understanding of the opportunities and risks of formulating and implementing a zero-carbon building policy, and identify recommendations for maximising the opportunities and minimising the risks. Hong Kong as a typical high-rise high-density city was considered as the case for study. The research was conducted through the combination of a policy review, a questionnaire survey, interviews and focus group meetings with several hundred professionals and stakeholders carefully selected using stratified sampling. Wide opportunities were identified, with most important ones including raising public awareness of sustainable living, reducing buildings’ energy use and carbon emissions, and promoting strategic urban planning. However, risks were found to co-exist, with most significant ones including geographical obstacles to domestic renewable energy generation, heavy reliance on fossil fuels, and resistance of practitioners to the policy. Nevertheless, the opportunities were considered to outweigh the risks. Recommendations were identified to mitigate the risks, which are centred on policy guidance, business strategy, stakeholder partnership, and government and client leadership. The findings reveal the complex, interactive, interchangeable and context-specific features of the opportunities and risks, which alert to reconstruct a dialectical system framework of implementing zero-carbon building policy for Hong Kong. The yielding policy implications and recommendations should shape the reconstruction of that framework for high-rise high-density cities.