The Climate Change: Strategic Programme Fund Workshop was successfully held on 27 Feb 2009 in Hong Kong.  The workshop formed part of a road-show which took place across China, in Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.  The purpose of the workshop was to introduce the Strategy Programme Fund (SPF) to local partners who may be able to lead climate change projects funded by the SPF in the future.  The workshop was well attended by a range of stakeholders from various sectors including policy think tanks, non-governmental organizations, academia and the private sector. 

The SPF, administered by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is the UK Government’s flagship programme budget.  Its purpose is to promote action on global issues in areas relating to the UK’s highest foreign policy objectives.  One part of the fund supports projects promoting a low carbon, high growth (LCHG) global economy.  China is one of 22 priority countries.  To date, there are more than 100 completed and 35 on-going projects in China funded by the SPF and 18 proposals were submitted to bid for funding for 2009/2010.

Andrew Seaton, British Consul-General, delivered an opening speech highlighting the importance the UK government attaches to tackling climate change.  He explained that it is one of the UK government’s top four international priorities. This was followed by presentations from the China SPF Team from the British Embassy (Beijing) who explained the UK’s LCHG strategy, its objectives, LCHG project development and implementation.  Alison McEwen, Head of Hong Kong Climate Change Team further introduced the BCG Hong Kong’s climate change objectives for 2009/2010 and potential project ideas for delivering these objectives.  Next the findings of a recent scoping study were shared with participants. The study explored the actions the BCG Hong Kong and BCG Guangzhou could initiate to help improve climate change management in the Pearl River Delta region.  During the workshop, participants were highly engaged and actively participated in the discussion sessions.

Please follow links below to download speakers’ presentation files:

Briefing on the Strategic Programme Fund (SPF) and the UK’s “Low Carbon High Growth” (LCHG) strategy [PDF, 1.3MB, new window] by Xu Hao, China SPF Team, British Embassy Beijing

Briefing on the British Consulate-General Hong Kong’s Climate Change Objectives [PDF, 781KB, new window] by Alison McEwen, Head of Hong Kong Climate Change Team

The SPF project application process [PDF, 4MB, new window] by Huang Xinli and Xu Hao, China SPF Team, British Embassy Beijing