City University of Hong Kong (CityU) built a dialogue on sustainability challenges faced by Hong Kong and greater China by holding an international workshop entitled “Forming Synergies in Greening China’s Growth” on 13 June 2017. Sponsored by the Campus Sustainability Fund, the workshop was co-organised by the Department of Public Policy and the School of Energy and Environment, CityU. The event was also supported by grants from the Center for East Asian and Comparative Philosophy, CityU; Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning; Hong Kong Smart City Consortium; and Hong Kong and Macau Research Center, Tsinghua University.

The 13th Five-Year Plan for Ecological and Environmental Protection (2016–2020) of China consists of three core missions – to raise the quality of the environment, to strengthen holistic management solutions and to speed up the amendment to environmental issues. In this context, the workshop brought together scholars and leaders from government institutions, the private sector, universities, think tanks and NGOs to address pressing environmental issues in China.

Ms Christine LOH, then Under Secretary for the Environment of the Hong Kong SAR Government, gave an opening speech on regional collaboration. Renowned academicians and experts from around the world exchanged their views on forming synergies across different sectors in air pollution control and low carbon development in greater China. Discussions at the workshop related to evidence-based policy-making, case studies on environmental monitoring and reporting and smart cities in China and around the world.

Cover: Ms Christine Loh gave an opening speech on regional collaboration.

Photo 2: The workshop featured a number of CityU academics, including Prof Samuel Ho, Prof Chan Chak-keung, Dr Li Wanxin, Dr Ning Zhi, Dr Kitty Poon, Dr Shi Han and Dr Masaru Yarime who study environmental and energy issues from different disciplinary perspectives.