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1. Welcoming remarks
Mr Werner Hans Lauk
Consul-General of the
Federal Republic of
Germany to Hong Kong
When it comes to tackling climate change, building energy efficiency is one of the most important issues,
especially for a city like Hong Kong with its more than 40,000 buildings. According to estimates, buildings
account for up to 90 per cent of the energy consumption in the Hong Kong SAR. No wonder that everybody
sees a huge potential for energy saving in building, as well as general and individual management of buildings
of all kinds.
Consequently, many experts and players are active in the field of building energy efficiency and the
topic is being discussed in many fora and events like this. However, as we also know, when it
comes to implementation we still observe a certain leeway. For us, it was therefore important to
add best practice examples and also new perspectives to the debate and to present Germany's
latest developments and experiences in the field of building energy efficiency.
Dear friends, the quality of German building and construction enjoys an excellent international reputation.
Protecting the environment, saving our natural resources, and tackling climate change are three of the main
features of German building and housing policies. Various programmes for the construction of new energy
efficient residential, as well as industrial buildings, and the energy efficient refurbishment of the housing
stock have for a long time already been part of these policies.
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