4 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 integrated-interdisciplinary 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 within 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. For example: • Financial Services and Treasury Bureau improving cooperation with Hong Kong’s scientific and engineering experts to assist the financial sector’s assessment of climate risks in financial terms on an on-going basis (see Chapters 4, and 6 for further elaboration). • Commerce and Economic Development 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 Green-ClimateTech and innovation within its scope of work. The government 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-Climate-Prop-FinTech). Those efforts are expanding and deepening local capacities that could have use beyond Hong Kong if properly supported and promoted. C. Climate and sustainability have become a soughtafter topic at schools and universities. 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. Observations and Recommendations IV: Based on Workshop A on the Nexus between Mitigation and Adaptation Observations 1. Cross-cutting, multi-and-interdisciplinary deliberations and dialogues are essential for co-learning and problemsolving. Designing and conducting these dialogues can progress exploration of issues, where there are different perspectives, methods, and views. 2. There is a great desire among professionals and institutions for appropriate platforms for convening colearning and problem-solving dialogues across sectors, including with government and regulators at both the senior and working levels. 3. Barriers to sustaining engagements include the lack of time, focus and resources for the planning, design, curating and convening of neutral spaces for dialogue. Everyone wishes someone else could rally stakeholders. 4. Green-ClimateTech emerges as a major innovation area. The public, private and academic sectors are already investing hugely in this, but it has yet to receive adequate attention from the authorities engaged in policy making. Moreover, managing the climate transition requires largescale digitalisation. Recommendations A. Institutions in Hong Kong should coordinate and cooperate to divide up the work required to convene cross-cutting dialogues. B. Bureaux and Departments should consider how they could organize themselves to enable various institutions to convene and/or participate in such periodic dialogue to exploring issues. Two topics on which new dialogue platforms with government involvement could be developed now: a) Policies for developing and funding adaptation to counter landslide, flood, and sea level rise risks. This could be hosted by an appropriate financial regulatory or management institution. Its objective would be
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