The Next Chapter of Green Buildings at Eco Expo Asia 2026: Turning Policy into Results on the Ground

If Hong Kong keeps building the way it does today, construction, which accounted for about 6.8% of the city's carbon emissions in 2023, could account for as much as 13% by 2035. That projection shows why green buildings can no longer be judged only by how much electricity they save once they open. Their carbon footprint starts much earlier, with the materials trucked onto the site and the machinery used during construction, and it continues all the way to the waste left behind when a building is demolished.

On October 27, 2026, the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) hosted a session titled 'The Next Chapter of Green Buildings: From Policy to Practice' at the Eco Asia Conference, part of Eco Expo Asia 2026 at AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong. The session set out to answer one question: with green targets and policies already in place, what will it take to turn them into real outcomes?

The speakers came from different links in the construction chain: Ar. Clarence Leung, Council Member of the Construction Industry Council (CIC), Chairperson of its Committee on Environment and Sustainability, and a Director of HKGBC; Henry Ho, Head of Sustainability at China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong); Ir Rocky Lau, Director of EnerRight Intelligent; and Dr. Chang Yin Siang, Chief Sustainability Officer of Mabosa (M) Berhad in Malaysia. A panel discussion moderated by Ir Harry Lai, BBS, Executive Director of HKGBC, closed the session.

Hong Kong's Green Buildings Have Already Written Three Chapters

Before looking ahead, Harry Lai looked back at how many chapters Hong Kong's green building story already has. The first began in 1996, when Hong Kong introduced HK-BEAM, one of the world's earliest building environmental assessment tools. At the time, it was a voluntary scheme focused mainly on reducing energy use and waste.

The second chapter opened in 2009, when HKGBC was founded and joined the World Green Building Council network. Soon afterward, HK-BEAM evolved into BEAM Plus, which became Hong Kong's main green building rating tool. Once the government's Buildings Department linked gross floor area (GFA) concessions to BEAM Plus certification, the number of new buildings seeking certification rose sharply.

The third chapter began in 2020, when the Hong Kong government pledged to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050. A year later, its Climate Action Plan put green buildings and energy efficiency at the top of its strategies, because buildings consume about 90% of Hong Kong's electricity and account for more than half of its carbon emissions.

For the fourth chapter, the question is no longer which targets to set, but how to deliver on the ones already in place.

A Five-Year Plan to Keep Construction from Becoming a Major Emitter

The 13% projection comes from Clarence Leung, who spoke on behalf of CIC and explained that 6.8% may not sound high because it covers only construction and demolition activities. However, as Hong Kong pushes ahead with large-scale infrastructure and the Northern Metropolis, a new development zone in the north of the city, that share will keep climbing and could reach 20% to 25% by 2060. And the more the power and transport sectors cut their emissions, the larger construction's share becomes.

That is why CIC has drawn up its own five-year sustainability plan in line with Hong Kong's Five-Year Plan, focusing on four areas: low-carbon transition, a green and livable city, clean energy, and climate resilience. Clarence Leung compared this work to a tree that does not grow overnight. It needs strong roots and the right environment, and above all, it needs a shift in mindset across the entire industry.

For the low-carbon transition, the first tool is the CIC Green Product Certification scheme. Launched in 2019, it was upgraded to version 2.0 in 2025 to align with international standards and now includes five environmental labels. Some banks have since built the scheme into their lending frameworks for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and three green steel manufacturers from mainland China have joined. Over the next five years, CIC aims to align the scheme with green product standards in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), bringing more products into Hong Kong and onward to international markets.

The second tool is the Carbon Assessment Tool (CAT), an online carbon calculator launched in 2019 and now used in both private and public housing projects. CAT 2.0, scheduled for around 2028, will expand the materials database, use AI, and add an 'optioneering' feature that lets project teams compare green material options from the earliest design stage.

CIC's most ambitious goal is the Green Data Hub, which would bring the green product database, the embodied carbon database for materials, and BEAM Plus assessment data together on one platform. The aim is to give the industry a single source of truth, a common carbon accounting method, and a foundation for systematic lifecycle assessment of buildings. Clarence Leung acknowledged that the project is challenging because the data comes from many different bodies, but added that it is well worth the effort.

From Site Waste to Hydrogen: CIC's Other Three Priorities

Beyond carbon, CIC's 'green and livable city' pillar centers on circularity. CIC has launched a Smart Waste Management System that helps contractors digitize the disposal of construction waste, and it has developed Hong Kong's first circularity guidebook for the built environment with government departments and HKGBC. Next comes the CIC Material Exchange Platform, due to launch by the end of this year. The platform will match surplus materials from construction sites in a systematic way, going well beyond a simple secondhand marketplace for the industry.

On clean energy, a recent CIC study found that grid electricity remains the largest source of carbon emissions on construction sites. Contractors are increasingly using battery energy storage systems and electric machinery, while hydrogen pilot projects continue to multiply. Clarence Leung expects electricity, renewable energy, and hydrogen to complement one another depending on each site's conditions. CIC is also exploring a green construction label, which would mean less noise and pollution and better worker safety. What remains unresolved is how to assess it objectively.

The final pillar is climate resilience, where CIC is focusing on construction sites themselves. Extreme weather has led to more accidents and risks, so the industry needs guidelines on site drainage, site management, and worker protection.

Four Forces Changing How a Contractor Builds

If CIC provides the tools for the whole industry, China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong) is one of the companies putting them to work. Henry Ho explained that the company, a main contractor in Hong Kong for more than 40 years and the builder behind landmarks such as the Hong Kong Palace Museum, organizes its sustainability work around its P.E.A.K framework. The framework covers people, the environment, partnerships with stakeholders and supply chains, and the projects the company delivers for the people of Hong Kong. Within it, Henry Ho identified four forces shaping the future of construction.

The first is industrialization through Modular Integrated Construction (MiC), in which complete room modules are manufactured in a factory and assembled on site, much like building a car. Examples include the Penny's Bay quarantine facility, completed at speed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Light Public Housing project in Kai Tak, which rose at a pace of three days per floor. Multi-trade Integrated Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MiMEP) applies the same idea to building services, cutting manpower by 50%, construction time by 75%, punch-list items by 90%, and waste from building services work by 80%.

The second force is digitalization. If industrialization is about how things are built, digitalization is about how sites are managed. China State's C-SMART platform connects Building Information Modeling (BIM), CCTV cameras, and AI models to send instant alerts when, for example, a fire breaks out or a worker enters a danger zone. Every worker also receives a smartwatch that monitors their health in real time and lets them call for help in an emergency.

Automation is the third force, with robots taking on heavy and high-risk tasks. They include an indoor spraying robot that covers 300 square feet in three minutes, inspection robots that patrol sites around the clock, and a material transport robot that carries 150 kilograms per trip. Drones inspect high areas and clean exterior walls, in line with the government's push to develop the low-altitude economy.

The last force is green transformation, which Henry Ho sees as the one that contributes most directly to Hong Kong's climate goals. China State has replaced diesel generators with battery systems, is testing electric cranes and excavators, and has installed solar panels on its site offices. It was also the first contractor to use hydrogen energy on a construction site, starting with a project at the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park. In addition, the company runs a carbon reporting platform that collects data automatically and keeps a real-time audit trail, and it has delivered Hong Kong's first project to achieve carbon neutrality throughout its construction phase.

Cutting Energy Use in Existing Buildings Without Tearing Them Down

While the first two speakers focused on buildings yet to be built, Rocky Lau turned to those already standing, which make up most of the city. Hong Kong has more than 2,000 commercial buildings with glass facades. They may look striking, but they waste energy and pose safety risks. Glass lets in large amounts of solar heat, wasting about 25% to 40% of a building's cooling energy. After every storm or typhoon, sending workers down on ropes to clean or repair the glass is also dangerous and expensive.

UEner AI Nano Coating was developed to solve that problem. EnerRight Intelligent created the product after going through Cyberport's incubation program and receiving funding from the PolyU Angel Fund, and the technology is patented in both China and the United States. The coating does two jobs at once. First, it cleans itself: a thin layer of titanium dioxide (TiO2) is activated by sunlight and breaks down organic residue such as fingerprints and oil, and rain then washes the dirt away. Second, it blocks heat and UV rays while keeping the glass clear, so the building still enjoys natural light. Owners do not need to replace their windows, because the coating is applied directly to the glass already in place.

The service follows four steps. First, a drone fitted with 4K and thermal cameras surveys the building, which is far safer than sending workers down on ropes; where drones cannot fly, a camera-equipped machine takes the photos instead. Next, AI analyzes the images to identify problem areas on the glass, while the thermal images reveal where cool air is leaking out. The coating is then applied, and the final step compares the results before and after. For existing buildings, the coating is sprayed directly onto the glass and carries a warranty of about three to six years. For new buildings, it is applied with a roller at the factory before the glass is installed and can last more than 20 years, a method already used on a building in the United Kingdom.

Measurable results were what Rocky Lau emphasized most. At the headquarters of Hong Kong's Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD), the coating cut annual air-conditioning energy use by more than 10%. At a DoubleTree hotel, thermal images clearly showed that the coated glass stayed much cooler, and air-conditioning energy use also fell by more than 10%. Beyond glass, the company uses thermal scans to check whether solar panels are dirty, damaged, or overheating to the point of becoming a fire risk. Coating the solar panels at a power plant in Hong Kong has also reduced how often they need cleaning.

Another selling point is having everything in one place. Building owners often hire one company to clean the facade, another to deal with heat gain, and a third to inspect it. EnerRight brings cleaning, energy efficiency, and coating together on a single platform, and it links the data to the building management system (BMS) so that AI can adjust the air conditioning automatically according to the heat outside. Rocky Lau summed up the company's mission as turning 'energy waste into measurable ESG worth,' with ESG referring to environmental, social, and governance performance.

Green Buildings Are Only the Starting Point for Circular Cities

Looking beyond Hong Kong, Dr. Chang Yin Siang pointed out that the challenge in Southeast Asia is different. Malaysia's built environment has grown alongside its cities, housing, and infrastructure, so the priority has long been to deliver buildings efficiently. The next step is to make that development more resource-efficient, low-carbon, and circular. Malaysia already has frameworks to support the shift, including the Green Building Index (GBI), its national green building rating system; myHIJAU, which certifies green products and services; and the Industrialised Building System (IBS), which manufactures components in factories and can reduce material waste when planned well.

Even so, Dr. Chang Yin Siang sees green buildings as only part of the picture. The questions that follow are where materials come from, how they are used during construction, and what happens to them when a building is renovated or demolished. Sarawak, a state in East Malaysia, offers a clear example. Its Deputy Premier has framed circular construction around the idea of 'Waste No, Build Smart,' which ranges from reducing waste on site and repurposing non-compliant materials to prioritizing local materials to cut both emissions and logistics risks. As a result, Sarawak treats construction as part of a broader resource management agenda rather than as a separate waste problem.

A similar approach is taking shape in Thailand, where Mabosa is working with BMS 2020 Thailand, a construction materials maker guided by the Thai government's Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) economy model. BMS turns waste streams such as coconut husks and shells, autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) block waste, and gypsum board waste into construction materials. Its BCG innovation center at Aromatic Farm, a coconut farm in Ratchaburi province, covers everything from waste analysis and carbon sequestration research to product development and scale-up simulations. Its latest result is a system of five low-carbon building materials made from coconut husks, shells, and coco peat.

Dr. Chang Yin Siang stressed that the right sequence is to understand the waste first, identify a potential use, test it, gather evidence, and only then scale up. The talk closed with three principles: design out waste from the start, specify materials based on evidence rather than marketing claims, and keep resources in use for as long as they can safely serve.

Where the Gap Between Policy and Practice Lies

When all four speakers joined the panel, Harry Lai opened with the question closest to the session's title: which mechanisms can turn green building policy into real outcomes? Clarence Leung replied that there is 'no magic switch,' only many paths that need to be linked together. Green materials are a case in point, since Hong Kong still has no overarching policy on them. In the private sector, BEAM Plus sets requirements for green materials, and developers must comply to obtain GFA concessions, but most aim only for the minimum. In the public sector, meanwhile, each government department follows its own policy.

Progress therefore has to happen on several levels at once. The first is supply and demand, a chicken-and-egg problem that CIC is tackling from both ends. The second is incentives, which remain limited for both developers and contractors, not least because ESG performance is not yet linked to financial benefits. The third is public awareness, as people have only recently begun to talk more about embodied carbon and Scope 3 emissions. Harry Lai added that earlier chapters of Hong Kong's green building story focused mainly on operational carbon, the emissions from running a building, but embodied carbon in materials matters just as much.

From a contractor's perspective, Henry Ho sees alignment as the biggest barrier. A main contractor sits in the middle of a chain that includes project owners, the government, developers, and suppliers. 'We can't do it alone,' Henry Ho said. A contractor can absorb the cost and risk of one project to prove that something works, but it cannot carry every project on its own shoulders. Henry Ho therefore hopes to see more incentives, such as BEAM Plus credits for projects that invest in low-carbon practices.

On existing buildings, Harry Lai noted that today's technology is enough to meet Hong Kong's target of halving carbon emissions by 2035, but much of the technology needed for 2050 is still in the laboratory. The challenge is bringing it into the real world. Asked what evidence building owners need before investing, Rocky Lau pointed to performance contracts with guaranteed savings, which remove the risk of losing money, and noted that large providers such as CLP now offer such contracts. Owners who are unsure which solutions suit their buildings can start with HKGBC's Retrofit Guidebook, and Harry Lai added that HKGBC has also launched Retrofit Hub, an online platform for sharing case studies.

For Southeast Asia, Dr. Chang Yin Siang sees the biggest barrier as the gap between what is technically possible and what the market will accept. Developers and contractors need assurance that alternative materials are safe, consistent, compliant, and commercially viable. Governments can help by creating demand through green public procurement and clear standards, as Sarawak has done by becoming the first state to enforce IBS in government projects. Malaysia and Thailand can also share case studies and testing methods for recovered materials. In Dr. Chang Yin Siang's view, a circular city 'requires more than recycling technologies'; it also needs a functioning market for recovered resources.

The Northern Metropolis and the Data Hong Kong Still Lacks

The second half of the panel moved from individual buildings to the city as a whole. As an architect, Clarence Leung sees the Northern Metropolis as a unique opportunity, because the area between Shenzhen and Hong Kong's urban core still contains natural habitats and fish ponds that need to be conserved. Eco-first design and nature-based solutions must therefore start with a master plan that genuinely integrates new development with existing communities, rather than simply placing a village next to a high-tech park.

Clarence Leung also admitted to some concern. The project has to move very fast, and ecological considerations are often the first to be cut when time and budgets are tight. That is why Clarence Leung wants to see more public engagement. In the long run, green building standards should expand from assessing individual buildings to assessing entire districts, as Copenhagen has already begun to do.

For companies just starting their decarbonization journey, Henry Ho's first piece of advice was to 'dare to try,' just as China State did with hydrogen and its carbon-neutral construction project. Any trial, however, must be backed by data, and most companies already have it, from the amount of diesel they use to the bricks and concrete they buy. The problem is that the construction industry is used to looking only at dollar figures, even though usage data is a hidden asset that becomes the basis for the next step once ESG requirements arrive. Harry Lai summed it up simply: 'Data is money now.'

One Sentence for the Next Chapter

Before closing the panel, Harry Lai asked each panelist to name their top priority in a single sentence. Dr. Chang Yin Siang chose making verified sustainability performance a standard part of construction procurement. Rocky Lau stressed that combining nano coatings with AI can extend the life of older buildings and cut their energy use. Henry Ho said that every stakeholder is ready for the next five years, and that what remains is getting everyone moving in the same direction.

Clarence Leung answered in three words: 'Green Data Hub.' While Copenhagen is already thinking about building with less concrete, or not building at all, Hong Kong still lacks building lifecycle data, the foundation it needs to move forward over the next decade.

Copenhagen also provided the lesson that Clarence Leung shared earlier in the session. The city had aimed to become the world's first carbon-neutral city by 2025 but did not succeed, and it has since set an even more ambitious goal of becoming climate positive by 2035. Copenhagen accounts for less than 1% of global carbon emissions, which raises the question of why it bothers at all. For Clarence Leung, the answer is simple: 'If you think it's worth doing, we should just go ahead and do it.' Hong Kong and its construction sector should hold on to that same conviction.

The next chapter of green buildings will be written not with new policies, but with data, collaboration, and the courage to act. As Dr. Chang Yin Siang put it, 'Green buildings are the starting point; circular cities are the destination.'