"Action for Earth" Summit Convenes Global Leaders to Accelerate Climate Adaptation
UN, China's MEE, HKSAR Government, business and academia united to turn the mitigation-to-adaptation shift into concrete action
The flagship "Action for Earth" Summit of Hong Kong Climate Week 2026 was held at Rayson Huang Theatre, The University of Hong Kong. Convened by HKU ICCN, the Summit examined policy pathways, frontier research and actionable strategies for climate adaptation. Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan outlined Hong Kong's progress: emissions peaked in 2014, with targets to halve emissions by 2035 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050; new registrations of fuel and hybrid private cars will end by 2035, and the city's first large-scale EV battery recycling facility will commence operation this year. A keynote on "Priority Policies for Global Climate Adaptation" featured Dr Youssef Nassef, Director of the UNFCCC Adaptation Division, alongside officials from Beijing and Hong Kong, followed by a second keynote in which Academicians Guo Huadong, Gong Jianya and He Kebin presented frontier research including earth big data for sustainable development. A cross-sector roundtable with Swire Properties, CLP Power, Bangkok Climate Action Week and RMI underscored the need to align policy, business and knowledge. The Summit also marked the official launch of the CATL–HKU ICCN Joint Laboratory, accelerating the transition toward a zero-carbon future.
