HKUST Environment ,Social and Governance Report 2020-21

Network Empowering Mindsets for Sustainable Communities HKUST aims to play a leading role in demonstrating how to achieve net zero carbon, in line with Hong Kong’s target to become carbon neutral by 2050. A working group will envision and define future pathways and action plans in areas of campus operations, research, policy, and education. Meanwhile, to propel forward campus engagement, a kick-off event for the HKUST 2050 Net-Zero Carbon Workshop Series in Spring 2021 discussed opportunities for project ideas and research arising from this drive. Beyond the University’s own campus, HKUST served as the 2020 convenor of the Hong Kong Sustainable Campus Consortium, comprising the eight publicly funded universities. In this role, HKUST kept up members’ collaborative spirit during COVID-19 limitations via working groups on sustainability performance, education, and campaigns. The joint university sustainability campaign ‘UNIfy’ was held in March with a series of themed online experiences and events: Mind Body Soul, Environmental Psychology, Agriculture and Waste Reduction. In Spring 2021, the Hong Kong Jockey Club announced its support for the consortium to launch a Sustainable Consumer Program, led by HKUST, to encourage over 100,000 students to adopt responsible consumption patterns in food, energy, water, and other consumables. With the challenge of holding face-to-face activities to engage the campus community, the Sustainability/Net-Zero Office was able to outreach the members through different channels. Promotional materials were designed to remind staff residents on home energy saving tips and encourage their use of reusable for takeaway and food waste recycling, behavioral change engagement with lab users for smart use of fume hoods, and office users on food waste collection. A new green corner in LG5 canteen was designed and filled with indoor plants that contribute to improve the indoor air quality, a fresh space for all to enjoy. Green Team continued to advocate for a more sustainable lifestyle. They organised an online talk to promote saying no to disposables and worked with campus services office to launch the beverage carton recycling program with lucky draw and online carnival activity to encourage campus members to take active role on clean recycling. In collaboration with Food Made Good, a sustainable catering assessment was also conducted with the major caterers on campus to set the baseline performance and identify opportunities of sustainable catering practices for new goal setting in the new sustainability strategic plan.

With the aim of fostering a cross-disciplinary sustainability mindset among students and assist in building the wide-ranging outlook needed to tackle eco-issues, the Division of Environment and Sustainability has also developed a module on Life Cycle Thinking, a significant way to encourage responsible long-term decision making, which has adopted for students across all engineering disciplines. In addition to that Life Cycle Assessment modules have been or are in the progress of implementation for selected majors in School of Engineering, such as Chemical and Civil engineering as preparation for final-year students in their capstone projects. More modules are planned to be developed for other disciplines. To provide a platform for students, staff, and faculty members to discuss and understand more about current and emerging challenges in sustainability research and practice, the Interdisciplinary Program Office, Division of Environment and Sustainability, and Division of Public Policy have jointly organized the Interdisciplinary Program Office (IPO) Sustainability Seminar Series. These events feature monthly seminars covering a wide range of sustainability topics relevant to Hong Kong and beyond. Speakers include academics, researchers, and practitioners working in government, business, and civil society in Hong Kong and abroad. With Dr. Meike SAUERWEIN stepping up as the co-chair, HKUST took the lead in developing a new Sustainability Education Working Group within the HK Sustainable Campus Consortium to help coordinate activities among all eight of the UGC-funded universities in Hong Kong. The working group targets to ensure that 100% of our students are exposed to sustainability ideas, concepts, and skill building.

Introduction Materiality Environment, Social and Governance Sustainability initiatives ESG frameworks

Our Net-Zero Journey

Environmental, Social and Governance Report 2020-21

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