Professor Wong Yuk-Shan, BBS, JP
Chairman of Consumer Council
Ladies and Gentlemen, Secretary for the Environment, Mr. Wong Kam Sing, esteemed speakers guests. May I extend my most sincere thanks that you can be here with us today; and especially to our overseas speakers and guests all the way from the Mainland, Canada, Australia and Chinese Taipei. Welcome to Hong Kong. And I welcome all the representatives from different stakeholder groups that support this important global subject.
I am delighted and honoured to open this important conference.
We are here today to exchange views on sustainable consumption. About how consumers can change their purchasing and behavioural habits so our children have the same opportunities to consume, that we have.
I want to spend a couple of moments recapping the concept of sustainable development to the audience.
There has always been a tension within the environment movement between the conservationist and the preservationists.
The concept of Sustainable Development we use today reflects an accommodation between those that emphasise "human development" and those that emphasise "environmental sustainability".
It is worth talking a little about international agreement on the term sustainable development has come about:
In 1972 at Stockholm the UN Conference on the Human Environment established UNEP to co-ordinate and assist countries develop social and environmental policies.
In 1987 the Brundtland Report developed the best known definition of sustainable development.
In 2002 in Johannesburg at the World Summit on Sustainable Development governments agreed to work in partnership with other stakeholders including the consumer movement.
Most recently in 2015 the World's leaders set themselves 17 ambitious goals and specific targets to help the world achieve sustainability. One of these goals is sustainable consumption and production.
The inclusion of the word "consumption" is an important addition to the debate. As societies become more affluent the market place responds less to physiological needs and more to psychological preferences. I believe the consumer movement can help tilt these preferences towards environmental sustainability.
The topic of sustainability is dear to me, and I know to you, Secretary Wong. In both our professional lives we have been confronted by evidence showing how Hong Kong lifestyles are injuring the natural environment.
150 years ago when the world's industrialisation commenced in earnest the population of Hong Kong was just 33,000 people. Now it is more than a 7.3 million. Hong Kong, then as now, was an international city: open to migration so enterprising people from other parts of China and all corners of the world could make this territory their home. As a consequence average earnings in Hong Kong are now amongst the highest in the world.
But this comes at a cost. As a biologist I am fearful for the transformation we are inflicting upon natural habitats.
We are sitting in this splendid conference room. 150 years ago this spot would have been in the Harbour. The nearby shore would have consisted of mangroves and beach. Now the only mangrove left on the island is in Tai Tam.
Our short lives are measured in decades so we don't always notice the profound and long-term impacts we cause. World population has grown tenfold to 7.5 billion since the start of the industrial revolution. As a result, over 80% of the world's land surface is influenced by man. In a few short decades we have extracted and burnt fossil fuel deposits built up over hundreds of millions of year. The elevated level of atmospheric greenhouse gases is now impacting upon the climate. On 30th December 2015 the temperature at the North Pole hovered around 0°C. This is 28°C warmer than the long term average, as a result of climate change and El Niño.
But there is cause for hope. Within our culture we have an instinctive respect for order and harmony. We care profoundly for our families. We dislike unnecessary waste.
Hong Kong is not currently a sustainable economy. But we can draw on our culture to help make it sustainable.
Also we are an inventive species. Secretary for the Environment I know you played an important role in designing the Zero Carbon Building in Kowloon Bay. The Zero Carbon Building shows how with ingenuity we are able to use good design to greatly reduce energy use. We need to apply similar insights to every facet of our consumption. I look forward to hearing your remarks.
But we mustn't underestimate the scale of change needed. The current paradigm for industry is extract-manufacture-use-dispose. This is not viable in the long term.
The production of a single pair of jeans can consume 8000 litres of water. Consumers do not wish manufacturing to be as wasteful as it is now. But equally, they do not want their purchases to be as restricted as they were in the past.
What is needed is a new sort of economy. Products should be designed so less resource is needed during production and use. Products should be easier to maintain and repair.
Consumers have a huge role to play. But consumers cannot become sustainable consumers unaided. In this room sit the range of stakeholders needed to help consumers achieve sustainable consumption.
We need businesses to design, produce, distribute and retail a more sustainable range of products. And we need businesses to communicate this information to consumers in a way they will understand.
Some enterprises publish informative and honest accounts of their companies' environmental and social performance. Consumers and household investors would like to see best practice become common practice.
We need Government to improve the necessary infrastructure. So that consumers make sustainable waste disposal and transport choices. We need Government to develop more regulations in the spirit of the Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme – providing a statutory guarantee of environmental performance.
There are tough messages in our report for consumers, too. They have to spend time and make effort to educate themselves about the side-effects of their consumption. They have a responsibility to change their behaviour. With time such habits will become second nature. As they used to be for our parents. They should also try to make purchases consistent with their concern for Sustainable Consumption. The market will only make greener products available if it senses there is demand.
We have reflecting this partnership approach in today's programme. We have a diverse and excellent range of speakers. I am very much looking forward to hearing from them and I hope you are too.
This morning we shall hear from my good friend Nora Tam. She will present information on Hong Kong consumers' attitudes and behaviour towards sustainability. Mr. Eric Whan will provide us similar insights from his organisation's cross-national survey.
Later this morning, we will hear about the important contribution that business has to make.
In the afternoon we shall be hearing from our esteemed guests the Undersecretary for the Environment and from the former Chairman of the Council for Sustainable Development. In our final session we will be hearing about how different stakeholders can help consumers make more sustainable choices.
I very hope that we will learn much from one another. Partnerships are forged when we come together with a joint determination to make a difference. I sincerely hope today's conference will help pave the way for such a partnership, and to build a better future for our next generation.