BEC EnviroSeries Conference Nov 2023: Financing Climate Transition and Delivering Net-zero Innovations for Hong Kong

BEC EnviroSeries Conference - Financing Climate Transition and Delivering Net-zero Innovations for Hong Kong

Date:       23 Nov 2023 (Thursday) 
Time:      9:15a.m. – 4:50p.m.
Format:   Hybrid
Venue:    The Ballroom, Level 7, Cordis Hotel and Online


Programme

8:50 – 9:20a.m. Conference Registration
9:15 – 9:20a.m.

Opening Remarks

Mr Kevin O’Brien, Chairman, Business Environment Council

Session 1: Financing Transition with Credible Frameworks and Instruments

For financial institutions to transition to net zero, they need to come up with credible approaches to reduce financed emissions. This Session shares principles and frameworks that guide FIs to identify transition investment opportunities in real economy sectors. Major transition-related financial instruments used by FIs and corporates will also be discussed.

Moderator: Ms Jenny Lee, Deputy Secretary General, Hong Kong Green Finance Association

9:20 – 10:25a.m. 

Panel Discussion

  • Mr Huifeng Zhang, Head of Corporate Sustainability, Asia Pacific, HSBC 

  • Ms Carmen Tsang, Head of Greater China Sustainable Investment Banking, Crédit Agricole CIB 

  • Ms Celina Chan, Head of Sustainable Finance, OCBC Bank (Hong Kong) Limited

  • Ms Grace LamSustainability Manager, Hongkong Land Limited

10:25 – 10:45a.m. Networking Break

Session 2: Reducing Scope 3 Emissions with Practical Approaches

As corporates pledge to reduce scope 3 emissions and will be regulated for relevant emission disclosure, they have embarked on their journey to understand materiality and take pragmatic approaches to address emission hotspots. This Session aims at sharing the practical action companies are taking to mitigate scope 3 emissions. Scope 3 materiality varies between sectors, and we are expecting different innovations for peer sharing.

Moderator: Ms Genevieve Hilton, Co-chair, E-ESG Committee, American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong 

10:45 – 11:55p.m. 

Panel Discussion

  • Ir Dr Shelley Zhou, Head of Corporate Sustainability, Hang Seng Bank

  • Ms Qian Li, Senior Director, Budweiser APAC 

  • Ms Priscilla Lin, Sustainability & Strategy Manager, Schneider Electric (Hong Kong) Limited

  • Mr Sébastien PivetChief Sustainability Officer and QA Director, AS Watson Group

11:55 - 12:10p.m.

Keynote Speech

Mr Joseph H. L. Chan, JP, Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, HKSARG

12:10 - 12:20p.m.

Keynote Speech 

Ms Mathilde Mesnard, Deputy Director, OECD Environment Directorate (video)

12:20 – 2:00p.m. Lunch Break
2:00 – 2:15p.m.

Keynote Speech

Ms Sherry Madera, Chief Executive Officer, CDP 

Session 3: Attracting Finance with Robust Corporate Climate Transition Plans

The Session discusses common and essential components in sound climate transition plans for corporates to attract financing. While robust targets and measurable KPIs are important, successful transition goes beyond the measurement of environmental metrics. Corporates need to demonstrate how transition plans are integrated into business plan and financial reporting.

Moderator: Ms Agnes K Y TaiDirector, Great Glory Investment Corporation

2:15 – 3:15p.m.

Panel Discussion

  • Ms Ellie Tang, Director, Sustainable Investing, Fidelity International 

  • Mr Patrick Ho, Deputy Head, Sustainable Development, Swire Properties Limited 

  • Mr Ronald Young, Head of Sustainable Finance Asia, Societe Generale 

  • Dr Ben Caldecott, Director, Oxford Sustainable Finance Group and the Lombard Odier Associate Professor (virtual) 

3:15 – 3:45p.m. Networking Break

Session 4: Delivering and Replicating Climate Innovation in Real Economy

This Session explores climate solutions that have greater mitigation potentials in Hong Kong. They could be those with reasonable abatement costs and better return-on-investment, which may currently be under use in Hong Kong, or new innovative solutions with key industries or hard-to-abate sectors that deserve more market attention and uptake.

Moderator: Ms Wendy Chow, Head of Information and Communications Technology, Invest Hong Kong

3:45 – 4:45p.m.

Panel Discussion

  • Mr Tom van der Lee, Finance Director, DFI Retail Group 

  • Dr Saraansh Dave, Director of eMobility, CLP Power Hong Kong 

  • Mr Antonio Ng, Founder & CEO, Formwork IO

  • Mr Norman ChengBusiness Development and Performance Director, Veolia Hong Kong

4:45 – 4:50p.m. Closing Remarks

Mr Simon Ng, Chief Executive Officer, Business Environment Council

 

 

Speakers *arranged in order of appearance

 

Ms Jenny Lee 
Deputy Secretary General, Hong Kong Green Finance Association (HKGFA)

Jenny is the Deputy Secretary General for Hong Kong Green Finance Association (HKGFA), primarily responsible for driving green and sustainable finance initiatives across its five working groups, leading private and public sector, regulator, and government stakeholder engagement to enhance Hong Kong’s position as a leading sustainable finance center. Jenny contributes to the Centre for Green and Sustainable Finance capacity building and data analytics workstreams, and co-created the HKGFA – HKUST Certificate in Sustainable Finance. Jenny has over two decades of experience in global investment banking and consulting, primarily in equity derivatives, prime brokerage, equity financing and new business development at Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and JPMorgan, and has lived in London, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Jenny left a career in banking to pursue her desire to make a positive impact, shifting the focus of her business and finance experience into sustainability. She is a life-long learner and passionate about creating a green and sustainable ecosystem, inclusive of finance, ESG and technology. She co-founded Development Finance Asia and is certified in CFA ESG Investing.

 

 

 

Mr Huifeng Zhang
Head of Corporate Sustainability, Asia Pacific, HSBC 

Mr Zhang Huifeng joined HSBC in 2005. As the Regional Head of Corporate Sustainability Asia Pacific, he oversees the Bank’s sustainability strategy in the region. This include community investment in future skills, climate change, sustainable finance, community service areas. His team is also working closely with the whole sale and retail banking businesses to promote sustainable finance and investment within the Bank to support the development of low carbon economy. 

Before joining HSBC, Mr Zhang had worked at BNP Paribas and ABN AMRO in trade finance and corporate banking area. His prior experiences also include 7 years project management and consulting for World Bank and Asian Development Bank financed projects in China. 

Mr Zhang has a MBA degree from Manchester Business School, UK.

 

 

 

Ms Carmen Tsang
Head of Greater China Sustainable Investment Banking, Crédit Agricole CIB 

Carmen is an experienced finance professional with a focus in impact investing and sustainable finance. She joined CACIB’s Sustainable Investment Banking (SIB) team in 2018, and has made key contributions on the green structuring aspects in a range of milestone transactions in the Asia-Pacific region, including the inaugural and subsequent Hong Kong SAR Government Green Bonds, debut South Korea Government Green & Sustainability Bond, ICBC’s mega Greater Bay Green Bond, AIIB’s Sustainable Development Bond Framework, and China’s first onshore tri-party green repo, etc.

She represents CACIB as the Co-chair of the Green Investment Principles of the B&R region Climate Disclosure Working Group, and serves in the cornerstone member working group of the Alliance for Green Commercial Banks.

Carmen started her career in UBS AG as a fixed income advisor in wealth management, and subsequently joined a boutique impact advisory firm facilitating capital flows to microfinance mandates in China.

Carmen has a degree in BBA majoring in Global Business and Operations Management from the HKUST. She is a certified ESG Analyst of the EFFAS, and serves as an advisor to HKUST’s BSc in Sustainable and Green Finance program.

 

 

 

Ms Celina Chan
Head of Sustainable Finance, OCBC Bank (Hong Kong) Limited

Celina Chan heads up Sustainable Finance for OCBC Bank in Hong Kong.  OCBC is the second-largest bank in Singapore and Southeast Asia, and an early mover in directing finance to support our clients in generating positive impact for a sustainable world.  OCBC has committed to S$50 billion or HK$300 billion of sustainable finance by 2025.

Celina specialised in impact finance when she was awarded a scholarship by the University of Oxford in 2018 to complete an MBA in this space.  Celina then contributed to pioneering innovative ESG solutions, including the world’s first Sustainability-Linked Bond for a real estate developer (2021), as well as Hong Kong’s first sustainable finance in the logistics industry (2022). 

Prior to that, Celina was at HSBC as an International Manager where she was a corporate banker in Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, and the UK; and where she managed regional and global strategy for the bank.  Celina has lived in Asia, Europe, US, and Africa and is an advocate of finance for good.  

 

 

 

Ms Grace Lam
Sustainability Manager, Hongkong Land Limited

Grace is the Sustainability Manager of Hongkong Land Limited. She develops and implements corporate sustainability strategy and targets 2030 across regions. She is responsible for integrating ESG into business operation, for example decarbonisation pathway towards net zero, climate risk assessment, sustainable finance and tenant engagement. 

She established the first embodied carbon assessment for the real estate sector since 2019. Her expertise includes embodied carbon, green building, strategy and planning, environmental management and ESG reporting. She is a CEEQUAL Assessor, BREEAM AP and BEAM Professional.

 

 

 

Ms Genevieve Hilton
Co-chair, E-ESG Committee, American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong

Genevieve Hilton has worked in corporate affairs and sustainability in the Asia Pacific region since 1994. At Lenovo, she led the communications functions in Asia Pacific and supported the company’s ESG transformation strategy. Before Lenovo, she was Head of External Communications and Corporate Citizenship at BASF for 11 years. There, she handled stakeholder engagement, corporate citizenship (non-profit activities), sustainability reporting, crisis readiness, online communications, media relations, corporate publications, and channel management, for 18 markets in the Asia Pacific region.

Prior to joining BASF, she was Senior Vice President, Client Services, at Ketchum Greater China, and held a variety of agency roles in Hong Kong and Vietnam. She is the co-chair of the Energy & ESG committee of the American Chamber of Commerce of Hong Kong, and Vice President, Professional Development for the Hong Kong Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. She is the recipient of the IABC Award of Excellence for contribution to the communications profession in Asia Pacific, winner of the SABRE award for best in-house communications team in Asia Pacific, and has been a GCCC accredited Strategic Communications Management Professional since 2017.

Genevieve left the corporate world in 2022 to focus on community and creative pursuits. She is currently providing pro-bono professional consultation and services to non-profit organizations in Hong Kong, while her science fiction stories have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies around the world.

 

 

 

Ir Dr Shelley Zhou
Head of Corporate Sustainability, Hang Seng Bank 

Ir Dr Shelley Zhou is currently Head of Corporate Sustainability at Hang Seng Bank. Prior to joining Hang Seng, Dr Zhou led ESG services in APAC for Capco, where she developed ESG products and solutions for financial institutions in Asia-Pacific, established a capable team to deliver net-zero strategy advisory and ESG consultancy services, and provided internal capacity-building and external executive training on climate and ESG related topics. Dr Zhou is a sustainability professional, has 20+ years’ experience in corporate sustainability, environmental and carbon management consultancy, new energy and biotechnology in Hong Kong, China and Singapore, covering government, banking, financial, real estate and retail sectors. 

Shelley holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering from the National University of Singapore and a Master of Philosophy degree in Civil Engineering from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). She is also Adjunct Professor at HKUST and has offered carbon management courses since 2010.

 

 

 

Ms Qian Li
Senior Director, Budweiser APAC 

Qian LI is a Senior Director at Budweiser APAC, looking after the overall corporate communications and driving the implementation of the company’s sustainability efforts. Qian is a seasoned professional with a particular focus on critical business communications and ESG strategy, with both in-house and agency experience.  Her core practice is communicating on business expansion, capital market movements, issue management, and listed companies' ESG value creation. 

Qian has a master’s degree in Sustainability Leadership and Governance from the University of Hong Kong and a professional diploma from the Financial Times Non-Executive Director. 

 

 

 

Ms Priscilla Lin
Sustainability & Strategy Manager, Schneider Electric (Hong Kong) Limited

Ms Priscilla Lin is the Sustainability and Strategy Manager at Schneider Electric (Hong Kong) Limited. She leads and develops Schneider Electric Hong Kong's sustainability strategy, drives strategic initiatives to meet the company's sustainability commitments and collaborates with customers to achieve their sustainability and climate change commitments. She is a member of the BEC Climate Change Business Forum Advisory Group. 

Before joining Schneider Electric (Hong Kong), Ms Lin had worked in corporate sustainability consultancy to advise businesses on sustainability strategy formulation, disclosures, and stakeholder engagement.

With experience in the international non-profit field, she specializes in engaging the public and youth in sustainable development, particularly in reducing social inequalities and addressing climate change through global citizenship education and community engagement.

As a climate advocate, Ms Lin has participated in the 26th and 27th UN Climate Change Conferences in Glasgow and Sharm El Sheikh. Outside of work, she focuses on raising awareness of community solar and climate-friendly food systems and has mentored various youth climate community projects.

 

 

 

Mr Sébastien Pivet
Chief Sustainability Officer and QA Director, AS Watson Group

With over 20 years’ experience in Retail, Sébastien is responsible for developing and implementing Sustainability and non-food Quality Assurance strategies for AS Watson Group.

Besides the development of the Group’s sustainability strategy, Sebastien and his team oversee ESG reporting to our shareholders, CK Hutchison and Temasek. Additionally, Sebastien initiated the launch of several responsible sourcing and environmental initiatives within the Group and with external manufacturers, and currently oversees on-going partnership programs with organisations such as amfori, the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil, The New Plastic Economy, the Forest Stewardship Council , and The Mekong Club. The latest achievement was the validation of the Science-Based Target initiative for AS Watson Group’s latest greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets (scopes 1, 2 and 3).

 

 

 

Mr Joseph H L Chan, JP
Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, HKSARG

Mr Chan was appointed the Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury on 16 August 2017.

Mr Chan has many years of senior executive experience in the banking industry. He was a Managing Director in the Global Markets Division of Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank, and was a Managing Director in Financial Markets of Standard Chartered Bank. Prior to joining the Government, Mr Chan held multiple roles in a number of public and professional bodies, including Vice President of the Hong Kong Society of Financial Analysts, Director of Hong Kong Securities & Investment Institute, Advisor of the Chinese Gold & Silver Exchange Society, as well as a General Committee member of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce. Mr Chan was also a member of the Central & Western District Council. 

Mr Chan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics (Hon) and Psychology from the 
University of Michigan, USA. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

 

 

 

Ms Mathilde Mesnard
Deputy Director, OECD Environment Directorate

Since December 2022, Mathilde Mesnard is Deputy Director for the Environment Directorate and OECD Co-ordinator for Climate and Green Finance. She supervises work on climate and green finance and investment, as well as on environment and economic integration.

From 2021 to 2022, she was the OECD Deputy Deputy Finance for the G7 and G20 and acting Director for Financial and Enterprise Affairs. From 2016 to 2022, she was Deputy Director of the OECD Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs, responsible for the policy areas of financial markets, corporate governance and corporate finance, anti-bribery, as well as the Centre for Responsible Business Conduct.

From 2013 to 2016, she was Co-ordinator of the New Approaches to Economic Challenges (NAEC) Initiative where she supported the development of multiple innovative projects across the Organisation, promoting new approaches with an impact on OECD analytical work, data collection and publications. From 2009 to 2013, Mathilde was Senior Advisor to the Secretary-General and Counsellor in his Office, where she supported the delivery of his Strategic Agenda, including in the preparation of the Ministerial Council Meetings, advancement of the relationships with Key Partners and the OECD Accession Process. She also supported the development of the CleanGovBiz Project, a strategic horizontal initiative on anti-corruption and integrity.

From 2001 to 2009, Mathilde worked in the Corporate Affairs Division of DAF where she led and contributed to a number of projects on corporate governance in South-East Europe, the Russian Federation, Asia and China, and developed the OECD Guidelines on corporate governance of SOEs. Mathilde has previously held positions as management consultant with Deloitte & Touche, Assistant Professor in Economics, and Financial Analyst at Citibank.

 

 

 

Ms Sherry Madera
Chief Executive Officer, CDP 

Sherry Madera is the Chief Executive Officer of CDP, the not-for-profit charity that runs the global environmental disclosure system for companies, investors, cities, states and regions. 

Sherry is a prominent thought leader on sustainability, with a focus on sustainable finance, environmental data and public policy. As CEO, Sherry manages a global leadership team and staff across the UK, Europe, North America, Singapore, Japan, China and Latin America.  

Prior to joining CDP, Sherry was Chair of the Future of Sustainable Data Alliance (FoSDA) a global organization focused on supporting data requirements to drive success in sustainable finance. As Senior Vice President, Public Policy, for Mastercard, Sherry led on identifying trends and issues that are a priority for governments, industry and regulators for strategic engagement. 

A unique combination of former investment banker and diplomat, Sherry has held roles at the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), the City of London and the British Embassy in Beijing, as well as Non-Executive Director Roles at Sondrel Limited and the University of Nottingham. 

Sherry speaks regularly in global forums on topics including sustainable finance, FinTech, international trade, data policy and geopolitics.

 

 

 

Ms Agnes K Y Tai
Director, Great Glory Investment Corporation 

Agnes is Director of Great Glory Investment Corporation and Senior Advisor of iPartners Holdings Ltd, both family offices.

She is a Governing Board member of Climate Governance Initiative (established by the World Economic Forum in 2019) and Steering Committee member of Climate Governance Initiative Hong Kong Chapter, an Expert Review Panel member for the MTR Corporation sustainability reports since 2014, a Council member, Publishing Board of Magazine member and a Deputy Chair of the training committee of the Hong Kong Institute of Directors (HKIoD), an Advisory Board member of Asia Climate Forum, faculty of Competent Boards, CSIA and FITC, guest lecturer of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, board member of Hope of the City, advisory council/committee member of GARP (HK) and FarmacyHK. 

She holds a Climate Designation certificate from Competent Boards, a Sustainability and Climate Risk certificate and a Financial Risk Manager certificate from Global Association of Risk Professionals, an ESG Investing certificate from CFA UK,  a CAIA certificate from Chartered Alternative Investment Association, and a Palladium Kaplan-Norton Balanced Scorecard certificate. She was a Responsible Officer in regulated activities 4 and 9 licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. Her board and senior executives training in English, Cantonese and Putonghua spans all 5 continents.

In her 43 years of serving the financial community in China, Hong Kong SAR, the USA and Australia, she has established and managed asset management/investment companies, consultancy practices, and new business units within major financial institutions, including co-Founding Peregrine Asset Management (Hong Kong) in the early 1990’s. She held senior roles at Bank of America, Citicorp, Westpac Banking Corporation, Mingly Corporation, Shanghai AJ Trust and Investment Company, Cupola Capital Limited, Booz & Company, Yaozhi Asset Management International, Arta TechFin Corporation, BlueOnion, Bai Xian Asia Institute, Habitat for Humanity, Centreon Technology, and Great Glory Strategies. She was a board member of various non-profits organizations.

Agnes has authored a book on investing in H-shares, a Harvard Business case, a chapter in CFA Society Hong Kong’s 30th anniversary book “Rise from Crises”, and a positive psychology book ‘Tall Miracles’.

 

 

 

Ms Ellie Tang
Director, Sustainable Investing Fidelity International 

Based in Hong Kong, Ellie is responsible for the integration of sustainability considerations into Fidelity’s real estate investments and supporting the firm in areas including proprietary sustainability ratings, engagement and voting activities with investee companies, as well as sustainability product offerings.

Ellie joined Fidelity from the Hong Kong-listed real estate company, New World Development, where she was Head of Sustainability. Previously, she held sustainability positions at Link Asset Management and HSBC. 

Ellie holds a Master of Public Administration degree in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies and Environmental Studies from Emory University. She serves on the Urban Land Institute Hong Kong Executive Committee and is also a WELL AP.

 

 

 

Mr Patrick Ho
Deputy Head, Sustainable Development, Swire Properties Limited 

Patrick Ho, Swire Properties’ Deputy Head, Sustainable Development, is responsible for formulating and executing a corporate sustainability strategy for the Company’s global operations across Hong Kong, Chinese Mainland and U.S.A. portfolios. Through engaging stakeholders, setting targets and developing action plans, he leads a team to manage the full spectrum of the Company’s environmental, social and economic impact and to integrate ESG considerations into every facet of Swire Properties’ business.  

In his role, Patrick works with senior leaders to establish the 1.5°C Science-Based Targets (SBT) to align with the pathway of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, and to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. He also worked on developing the Green Finance Framework for Swire Properties’ first US$500 million green bond and HK$500 million sustainability-linked loan, responding to emerging areas of sustainability such as Climate-related Financial Disclosures aligned with TCFD, embodied carbon emissions analysis for new development projects, and a strategic assessment of the climate-related physical and transition risks and opportunities under various future climate scenarios.

Patrick also led Swire Properties maintains its top listings on several global and regional sustainability indices and ratings, including the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (ranked 4th globally, 1st in Asia in 2022), Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB, Global Sector Leader in Mixed Use Developments for 6th consecutive year), MSCI ESG Ratings (highest “AAA” for 6th consecutive year) and Hang Seng Corporate Sustainability Index (No. 1 in Hong Kong for 5th consecutive year).  

Patrick is a Chartered Environmentalist, a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) and a Certified Carbon Auditor Professional. He is a Member of the Corporate Advisory Board of World Green Building Council, Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) Expert Advisory Group for Building Sector, and a Steering Committee Member of Climate Change Business Forum of the Business Environment Council.

 

 

 

Mr Ronald Young
Head of Sustainable Finance Asia, Societe Generale 

Ronald is primarily responsible for the origination and structuring of mainstream sustainable finance solutions such as green/ social loans and bonds as well as sustainability-linked financial instruments across sectors. He is also involved in the structuring of innovative solutions to scale up new business models and attract funding that deliver positive impact.

Prior to his current role, Ronald was a Director with Societe Generale’s Energy Finance and Advisory team in Asia Pacific. He has over 16 years of international experience in structured finance and principal investing in the renewable energy, infrastructure and natural resources sectors.

Ronald graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Management & Technology Dual Degree Program, with a Bachelor in Economics (in Finance) from the Wharton School and a Bachelor in Civil Engineering from the School of Engineering and Applied Science. He holds a Master of Business Law, the CFA charter and the Certificate in ESG Investing.

 

 

 

Dr Ben Caldecott
Director, Oxford Sustainable Finance Group and the Lombard Odier Associate Professor

Dr Ben Caldecott specialises in environment, energy, and sustainability issues and works at the intersection between finance, public policy, and academe, having held senior roles in each domain. Ben is the founding Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group at the University of Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. At the University of Oxford he holds the first ever endowed professorship of sustainable finance and is a Supernumerary Fellow at Oriel College, Oxford. Ben is also the founding Director and Principal Investigator of the UK Centre for Greening Finance & Investment (CGFI), established by UK Research and Innovation in 2021 as the national centre to accelerate the adoption and use of climate and environmental data and analytics by financial institutions internationally. He is a Visiting Professor at the Wealth Management Institute in Singapore.

Ben has authored and edited a substantial number of publications related to sustainability and is an experienced media commentator and public speaker. His expertise and expert evidence have been recognised in high profile legal cases, including in the Federal Court of Australia and the High Court of England and Wales. He is a regular peer reviewer and has a number of trustee, board, and advisory panel appointments, including serving as a Trustee of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and on the UK Climate Change Committee’s Adaptation Committee, as well as on DBS Bank’s Board Sustainability Committee, UK Export Finance’s Export Guarantees Advisory Council, and the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) Technical Council.

Prior to joining the University of Oxford, he was a Vice President at investment bank Climate Change Capital, one of the early leading asset management and advisory firms focused on the net zero carbon transition, where he ran the firm’s research centre and advised clients and funds on the development of policy-driven markets. Ben has previously worked as Research Director for Environment and Energy at the think tank Policy Exchange; as Head of Government Advisory at Bloomberg New Energy Finance; as a Director in the Strategy Directorate of the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (on secondment); as a Deputy Director in the Strategy Directorate of the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (on secondment); as an Advisor to The Prince of Wales’ International Sustainability Unit; as Sherpa to the UK Green Investment Bank Commission; and as the Senior Advisor to the Chair and CEO of the UK Green Finance Institute. He also served as a Trustee of the Green Alliance from 2010 to 2022.

 

 

 

Ms Wendy Chow
Head of Information and Communications Technology, Invest Hong Kong

Wendy Chow is the Head of Information and Communications Technology at Invest Hong Kong, the government department that aims to attract and retain foreign direct investment which is of strategic importance to the economic development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. 

Wendy received her B.A. and M.B.A degrees from The University of Hong Kong. She also completed an M.A. programme at University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Prior to joining Invest Hong Kong, she worked in the international market development division of a telecommunications company.  

 

 

 

Mr Tom van der Lee
Finance Director, DFI Retail Group 

Tom van der Lee serves as the Finance Director at DFI Retail Group, overseeing a wide range of responsibilities including Sustainability, Property Strategy, Facility Management, IT, HR, property, marketing, supply chain, and merchandising. Joining DFI in 2016 in Singapore and later relocating to Hong Kong in 2020, Tom has been instrumental in driving the company's sustainability initiatives.

Working alongside his dedicated team, Tom has successfully implemented climate-related financial disclosures and developed comprehensive strategies to reduce emissions and achieve carbon neutrality. The ambitious near-term emissions targets for scopes 1, 2, and 3, aligned with the 1.5°C pathway by 2030, have received validation from the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in 2023. 

Tom's professional journey commenced with FrieslandCampina, a prominent dairy co-operative, where he held various financial leadership positions across Europe and Asia, including Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. He holds an MBA from Kellogg, a Master of Finance and Control from Maastricht University, and a Master's in Financial Management from Nyenrode University.

 

 

 

Dr Saraansh Dave
Director of eMobility, CLP Power Hong Kong 

Saraansh is Director of eMobility for CLP Power Hong Kong where he leads a team enabling the electrification of transport for CLPP’s customers and stakeholders. Before this, Saraansh held roles at CLP Group focusing on business development of new opportunities across the APAC region.

Prior to CLP, Saraansh worked for SSE Plc in the UK within their commercial division where he held several roles from strategy to business development which included areas such as electric vehicles, storage, and energy services. 

Saraansh has also worked for Toshiba Corporate Research & Development where he focused on Smart Grid related projects across the UK & Europe. He holds a first class Masters degree in Engineering from the University of Oxford and an Engineering Doctorate from the University of Bristol.

 

 

 

Mr Antonio NG
Founder & CEO, Formwork IO

Antonio has dedicated 20 years of his life to leading design, innovation and strategy for some of the world’s most renowned architecture, engineering and construction firms including AECOM, ARUP, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, and Robert A.M. Stern Architects. He has delivered award-winning sustainable projects in Europe, Asia and the United States, including landmark assets such as the Nokia BDA Campus, Beijing, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, and Whitney Museum of Art, New York. As a design architect delivering ambitious green buildings and masterplans across geographies, Antonio was convinced that he was part of the solution to Climate Change.

When he realised that his efforts had failed to move the needle in reducing the sector’s 40% global carbon emissions, he decided to chart a different course. This led Antonio to found Formwork IO in 2020 with the goal to drastically reduce upfront carbon and Scope 3 emissions in the buildings and construction industry. Formwork IO applies Whole Life Carbon Thinking to design innovative products that help real estate owners, operators and developers win the Net Zero Embodied Carbon race, boosting their contribution in reducing the world’s embodied carbon by 50% in the next 350 weeks.

 

 

 

Mr Norman Cheng
Business Development and Performance Director, Veolia Hong Kong

Mr Cheng is currently the Business Development and Performance Director of Veolia Hong Kong, responsible for strategic development of the company in the region, including but not limited to water, solid waste, and energy management activities.  He has worked in multiple international environmental management companies, specialising in the design, build, and operation of water, sewage, sludge, and waste management facilities.

Mr Cheng is committed to serving the society, and is an active member in many professional institutions, namely the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE), the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) Hong Kong Branch, and Hong Kong Waste Management Association (HKWMA).

 

 

 

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