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Eric Ng

The construction industry needs to see faster progress on regulations and pilot programmes to boost the uptake of low-carbon materials and technology to accelerate the sector’s decarbonisation in Hong Kong and mainland China, according to Hang Lung Properties.
“The policy environment matters a lot, because we can only rely on the industries to move things so far so fast,” said John Haffner, deputy director of sustainability at the developer, which is active in Hong Kong and the mainland.
Beijing’s moratorium on coal for steelmaking and the expansion of China’s mandatory carbon emission trading scheme to the steel, aluminium and cement sectors are potentially game-changing, he said.
China aims to reach peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Steel-making accounts for about 15 per cent of the nation’s emissions.

“Policies can help put a price on pollution and raise the cost of high-emission materials and processes, then everything gets easier for adoption of lower carbon alternatives,” Haffner said.
In some cities globally, policies are making a difference with the choice of building materials, processes and even redevelopment decisions, he added.
For example, the City of London requires development proposals to include a calculation of the whole life-cycle carbon emissions through a nationally recognised assessment. Developers must also demonstrate actions taken to reduce life cycle emissions from materials, construction and use over a building’s entire life, including demolition and disposal.
Buildings are responsible for nearly 40 per cent of global energy-related carbon emissions, according to the World Green Building Council. Nearly 30 per cent comes from the use of energy for operations and 11 per cent from materials and construction in so-called embodied emissions. These refer to the emissions generated during the production and transport of building materials used in construction.
Last year, Hang Lung became the first property company in Hong Kong and the mainland to receive approval from Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) for its emissions reduction targets, Haffner said. SBTi is a corporate climate action organisation that enables companies worldwide to play their part in combating climate change.
Hang Lung has committed to reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions from its own facilities and from purchased energy by 47 per cent by 2030 compared with 2019 levels, and to cut emissions from bought goods and services and assets leased to tenants by a quarter by 2030. By 2050, it aims to achieve near-zero emissions.
Hang Lung was also the first developer in Hong Kong and China to join non-profit Climate Group’s SteelZero initiative a year ago, committing to source at least half its steel requirements from low carbon products by 2030 and 100 per cent net-zero emission steel by 2050.
The threshold for meeting the low-carbon steel requirement for each company varies, depending on the access to steel made with scrap, which lowers the carbon footprint of the material.
Steel accounted for around 40 per cent of Hang Lung’s embodied emissions last year.
Last month, Hang Lung said it would buy around 1,500 tonnes of low-carbon steel products from Shanghai-based Baoshan Iron & Steel. The metal would be used to expand its Plaza 66 mixed-use complex in Shanghai, it added.
The carbon footprint of the steel is 35 per cent lower than conventional steel produced by Baosteel. The reduced footprint, through the use of renewable energy, energy efficiency measures and recycled scrap steel, was verified by certification body TUV SUD.
Last year, Baosteel commissioned China’s first hydrogen-based steel plant in Zhanjiang, in southern Guangdong province. The furnace, with 1 million tonnes of annual capacity, cost 2.15 billion yuan (US$296 million) to build.
China could become the top green steel producer by 2030 because of its strength in the production of renewable electricity and green hydrogen, according to Transition Asia.
The project pipeline indicates that China could produce 15 to 20 million tonnes a year of low-carbon steel by 2030, the think tank said in October.


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Developer urges quicker regulatory progress and pilot programmes to expedite low-carbon material adoption, vital for decarbonising the sector


Developer urges quicker regulatory progress and pilot programmes to expedite low-carbon material adoption, vital for decarbonising the sector.


Hang Lung pushes for faster decarbonisation in Hong Kong and China’s construction industry

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Developer urges quicker regulatory progress and pilot programmes to expedite low-carbon material adoption, vital for decarbonising the sector

Developer urges quicker regulatory progress and pilot programmes to expedite low-carbon material adoption, vital for decarbonising the sector