33 3 Government Panel on Adaptation and Resilience OBSERVATIONS 1. Hong Kong’s public sector has strong climate science and engineering skills and experience because it has had to deal with the city’s extreme conditions, such as its hilly topography and subtropical climate. Its techniques and management methods are important because they represent a large body of tested solutions. 2. The public seldom see or hear about government work in an integrated, cross-disciplinary manner. The extent of government work is impressive and interesting, which can help to generate public buy-in if properly narrated and presented. 3. Seeing and hearing government work across Bureaux and Departments enables the identification of gaps and trade-offs that need further articulation and deliberation. 4. The government is a major investor in climate and sustainability related I&T that could be properly narrated and presented for both mitigation and adaptation. 5. Young people are clearly interested in climate and sustainability. They expressed an interest to be involved, which presents opportunities for the HKSAR Government to respond. RECOMMENDATIONS A. Hong Kong’s government leaders tend to focus on branding local economic prowess from the perspective of financial services, tourism, trading and logistics, and professional and producer services. Hong Kong’s capabilities in climate solutions can be developed into a new narrative of economic, professional, finance and I&T strengths to suit the current era. B. The Steering Committee on Climate Change and Carbon Neutrality chaired by the Chief Executive is the right place for Bureaux and Departments to present their work periodically in an integratedinterdisciplinary manner so that the Chief Executive could have a thorough understanding of the work being done, and for the Financial Secretary to see how funding allocations have been spent. This committee is the right platform for the HKSAR Government to mainstream climate as a major cross-cutting topic within the bureaucracy. By mainstreaming with such a setting, it should also stimulate all Bureaux to consider how they could use Hong Kong’s climate capabilities and solutions to promote the city, such as: • Financial Services and Treasury Bureau furthering its efforts in cooperating with Hong Kong’s scientific and engineering experts to project climate risks that could assist the financial sector in their assessment of climate risks in financial terms on an on-going basis (see Chapters 4 and 6 for further elaboration). • Commerce and Economic Bureau using climate and sustainability I&T solutions as part of its Belt & Road promotion. • Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau sharing Hong Kong’s climate efforts and capabilities with the regional and national governments since climate change is a top policy agenda. • Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau including GreenClimateTech and innovation within its scope of work. I&T are enablers for more desired outcomes – and the climate/sustainability transition is a major global desired outcome. The government itself is spending considerable sums to develop and use such technologies, some of which are co-developed with local R&D capabilities (see Chapter 6 which goes further with the integration of Green-ClimateProp-FinTech). Those efforts are expanding and deepening local capacities that could have resonance beyond Hong Kong if properly supported and promoted. C. Climate and sustainability have become a welcomed and soughtafter topic at schools and universities. Many Bureaux and Departments can reconsider how they can integrate climate and sustainability into their outreach, in particular Home Affairs and Youth Bureau, to engage youth.
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